Jan 23, 2013 | jmoon | 919 views
Hornets Finalists in first Tournament of Season!!
The Minor Atom Cambridge Hornets traveled to Alliston for the "Bradford Blue & Gold Tournament" over the past weekend and played incredible over the course of the series going undefeated and finishing first in every single category in their division before the finals! Our Hornets finished first in overall points with 5, recording 2 wins and a tie. First in "goals for" with an amazing 20 goals scored over 3 divisional games. First in "goals against" over 3 games recording 2 shut out victory's with a microscopic 2 goals allowed. Least penalty minutes recorded by all 6 teams and easily the most enthusiastic and vocal team on any ice they played.
The tournament started Friday Morning playing the very tough Georgetown Raiders, Cambridge battled for the whole game and settled on a 2-2 draw. Cambridge had the edge with shots at 15-14. Our Defense with Ethan Reynolds, Zach Braga, John Bulten, Jeff Favaro, Mason McCormick & Nich Delegiannis played incredible against a fast motivated Georgetown team. Possibly best game of the year!
In game #2 Friday afternoon the Hornets dominated a smaller Newmarket team and was rewarded with a 16-0 victory. Because of the format of the tournament cambridge put the pedal down to ensure a favourable percentage in case of a tie with another team before finals. Our Forwards Eric Wehrle, Alex Moon, Connor Short, Dylan Corrigan, Luke Meadus, Janson Duench, Ben George,Caleb Hamilton & Ben Farrell exploded with 37 points combined to lead our team to victory and really got team pumped. The best part of the game happened at the end where Hornets noticed a very upset sobbing Newmarket goalie and made the incredible gesture to forego a "Player of the Game" award for our own team & instead deciding to present it to the Newmarket goalie in a brilliant show of respect and true understanding of the game we love..The Newmarket coach was blown away with this act of kindness and produced smiles from the Newmarket goalie before we left there locker room. The decision came from the kids and was a very special moment for our Hornets coaching staff of Jason Moon, Greg Wehrle, Shawn Corrigan & Trainer Dino Delegiannis.
The stage was set Saturday afternoon, Meadowvale Hawks were undefeated and our next competitor! With a Hornets win we go directly to finals, with a loss we pack our bags. The Hornet kids had an amazing energy in the dressing room and were not going to be denied. Logan Gorman & Martina Incitti in net were completely unstoppable and gave Meadowvale no sign of hope through excellent positional play and perfect goaltending resulting in a 2-0 shutout win against the top team up to that point. Our Hornets celebrated and waited on rest of games to see who we would meet in Finals.
The Finals came down to Sunday morning and had #1 seeded Cambridge Hornets against the #2 ranked team and very familiar Meadowvale Hawks for a re-match for the Championship. Cambridge gave up a goal only 30 seconds in but never gave up answering only over a minute later. After 2 periods of intense back and forth play the Hornets were tied 3-3 after 2 periods. At 5:17 of the 3rd period Cambridge scored and looked like they were taking control. With 56 seconds left Meadowvale scored and sent game into overtime where just over a minute in scored the game winner and sealed our fate with a 5-4 Overtime loss in the Championship final.
Our Hornets respectfully congratulated their opponent but not before acknowledging there parents at the side glass. Was an amazing day for all in attendance. As a coach I have NEVER been prouder of a group of athletes before this past weekend. We represented our community in a way that should be congratulated on every level.
Way To Go Hornets!!!
Coach Jason.