Dec 31, 2018 | twelychkasr | 626 views
Tigers Finalists at Silver Stick Tourny
The Welland "Mike Knapp" Novice A Tigers competed in the Regional Silver Stick Tournament in Pelham. The Tigers finished the round robin 3-0 after convincing wins over The Pelham Panthers, St Mary's Rock and Tillsonburg Tornadoes.
The Tigers followed up their strong round robin play with a lopsided win over Caledonia in the Quarter Finals and another dominant win over the Dundas Blues in the Semi Finals.
The Tigers faced a strong Lincoln Blade team in he Finals and came up just short, losing a close hard fought battle.
The Tigers opened the tournament against the host team, the Pelham Panthers. Welland came out strong and carried the play for most of the game. The Tigers filled the net in the opening game winning by a margin of 10-0.
In the second game of the round robin, Welland took on the St Mary's Rock. The game started slow, with minimal chances at each end. The Tigers eventually found the net, which seemed to swing momentum their way. The Tigers began to dominate St Mary's and played the majority of the game in their end. The Tigers managed to find the back of the net 6 times, on their way to a 6-1 win.
The Tigers finished the round robin play against the Tillsonburg Tornadoes. The Tigers played their strongest defensive game thus far and limited Tillsonburg to minimal chances. The Tigers fired several shots on the Tornadoe goalie but couldn't find the back of the net until mid way through the game. The Tigers continued their strong play and managed to score 3 more goals, capping off a 4-0 win.
The Tigers finished first in their division and matched up against the Caledonia Thunder in their quarter final matchup. The Tigers dominated from the opening face off where they managed to score 3 goals in the opening 3 minutes of the game. The Tigers continued to dominate offensively for the rest of the game and managed to score a total of 12 goals, finishing with a 12-3 win.
In the Semi Finals Welland played a solid Dundas Blues team. Welland once again jumped out to an early lead scoring on their first shift of the game. The teams traded chances for most of the first and second, but good goal tending and defence maintained the lead for Welland. Welland managed to score 3 more times and only allowed one goal against good enough for a 4-1 win and a trip to the tournament finals.
In the Finals the Tigers faced off against their own league rivals the Lincoln Blades. Both teams had faced each other in regular season play two times prior, with both games ending in 1-1 draws.
The Tigers continued their hot starts and managed to jump out to a 1-0 lead only 6 seconds into the game. The game was a back and forth battle after that with several good chances at both ends. The first period ended 1-0 for the Tigers.
In the second period the Tigers managed to score another goal, after some good passing, which gave them a 2-0 lead. The Tigers played strong at both ends of the rink, but allowed a late break for Lincoln who managed to score late in the second period to make the score 2-1 after 2 periods.
The Tigers decided to play their worst period of hockey in the third. The Tigers came out slow and flat, and allowed Lincoln to take the game to them. Lincoln came out strong and scored an early third period goal to notch the game at 2-2. Lincoln continued to dominate the Tigers, limiting them to no scoring chances, and carrying most of the play in Tiger zone. Lincoln managed to score again in the third, taking a 3-2 lead.
The Tigers decided to pull the goalie late in the third period in an effort to tie the game, however Lincoln struck first scoring into the open net taking a 4-2 lead. Welland showed no quit, scoring again with only seconds left on the clock, and skated hard to the last buzzer, however fell short, losing the final 4-3.
The coaches of Welland are extremely proud of the entire team for the effort they put forth over the tournament. The team played its best hockey of the year for majority of the tournament. Although they did not achieve their end goal of winning the tournament the Tigers fought hard and came as close as they could.
Congratulations to Ethan Rousseau who led the tournament in points with 19 points in 6 games. Congratulations to Mackenzie Welychka who led the tournament in goal scoring with 11 goals in 6 games. Congratulations to Jackson MacLeod who had the best Goalie Goals Against Average in the Tournament (0.33 GAA in 3 games).
This was the Tigers 4th tournament of the season. The Tigers have reached the Finals of all 4 of the tournaments, winning two of them and finishing second twice.
Great Job Tigers, keep up the hard work.