The Havelock Metal Novice AA Petes Excel in their first AAA tournament…but fall 1-0 in the semi-finals
This past weekend, the Havelock Metal
Novice AA Petes travelled to Ottawa to compete in the Novice Holiday Classic
tournament in the Tier 1 (AAA) division.
In their first game against the Kingston Canadians, the boys, despite their slow start due to travel and making adjustments to accommodate their play on the Olympic- sized rink, quickly altered their game and demonstrated great offensive output with all three lines chipping in with a pair of goals. Thanks to the strong defense, and great goaltending, the team won the game 6-0.
Gloucester Rangers proved to be a formidable opponent in Saturday’s game when the Rangers came out flying with 2 goals in the first 5 minutes. Gloucester displayed exceptional neutral zone speed that the Petes had not been exposed to this season. Despite the team’s 4-1 loss, they adjusted their play and outplayed the Rangers in the 2nd half; hitting two crossbars and the knob of the goalie’s stick on a sure goal. In the third period, the Petes outshot Gloucester 9-6. At the end of the game, Gloucester Head Coach commented, “That was our best game of the year and we needed it to come away with the win.” Gloucester went on to win the tournament by a score of 3-0 in the finals.
In the boys’ game against the Nepean Raiders, a needed win to move on to the semi-finals, the Havelock Metal Petes quickly dominated the game with a well executed face off play that resulted in the first goal. Thanks to excellent defensive play and timely saves, the boys remained disciplined and beat Nepean 4-0.
In the Sunday semi-final game against the Whitby Wildcats AAA team, the AA Petes had a great start to the game carrying the play for the first few minutes. The offense quickly became stalled due to multiple penalties against the Petes; at one point the boys had to battle against an extended 5on 3. Whitby took advantage of an unfortunate turnover and scored a short-handed goal halfway through the 3rd. Late in the 3rd, the Petes were robbed on a tap in by the Whitby goalie who was named the game MVP; stopping all 21 shots. Head Coach, Mike Farrugia commented on the 1-0 loss by saying, “This tournament was the focus of the first half of the year. We practiced and built our team based on this level of play. This was an exceptional effort by our boys as they carried most of the game but ran into a very hot goalie.”
Despite their first tournament loss, coach Matt Faulkner commented, “This weekend our boys were confronted with several challenges and their measure of character was clearly outstanding. In a sport where score is kept and we define winners and losers by tallies of goals at the end of the game, it is easy to lose sight of what is truly won and lost over the course of a season. Wins far outnumbered the losses this weekend”
The Havelock Metal AA Petes have a Christmas season break and will resume their last month of regular season play on January 2nd, 2016.