Havelock Metal AA Petes Upset Pat Larock AAA Tournament Champions, News, Novice AA, 2015-2016, Rep (Peterborough Hockey Association)

This Team is part of the 2015-2016 season, which is not set as the current season.
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Feb 16, 2016 | mfarrugia | 2673 views
Havelock Metal AA Petes Upset Pat Larock AAA Tournament Champions
The Novice AA Petes found a break in their playoff schedule and accepted a challenge from the Scarborough Raiders (who went undefeated and won the Championship of the Pat Larock AAA tournament here in Peterborough back in September of 2015) to have an exhibition game this past Saturday.

The Raiders are an extremely fast and talented team and it took a while for our defence to adjust to their neutral zone speed. The Petes found themselves down 1-0 after the first period. 

Petes goaltender, Nick Fournier was on his game stopping 8 of 9 shots and showed his lightning glove hand keeping his teammates in the game. 

Coach Mike Farrugia commented, "We were outplayed in the first but we just kept telling the kids to keep it simple and the chances will come." The first chance came and Drew Calderwood jumped all over a loose rebound and found the back of net to tie the game at one.

Landon Smelt came in half way through and was as "rocklike" as Fournier. The goalie tandem was solid and gave the Petes a chance to win the game. The two teams continued to trade chances until the Raiders buried one late in the second and took the momentum back. 

The message after the second was to forget about the first and second periods and play the best fifteen minutes of the season. The third didn't start as planned as the Raiders were able to get one early and add some insurance for a two goal lead. 

The AA Petes responded well and started to battle. They started to win the one on one encounters and played strong in their own zone. The hard work paid off and the Petes were able to render the Raiders insurance plan as invalid when Nathan McHattie picked up a pass in the neutral zone and broke in, firing one past the Raider net minder. 

Coach Mark McFadden stated,  "We needed something to build on and that was huge."

One minute and thirty-six seconds later, Ryder Perry broke down the right side and sniped one past the Raider goalie on the short side to tie the game. The Petes had momentum on their side and kept the pressure up and 40 seconds after the tying goal, Kaydn Farrugia broke free and rifled one under the bar for the go-ahead goal, which stood to be the game winner as the AA Petes defeated the Raiders 4-3.

Coach Matt Faulkner reflected on the game noting, "We won this as a team!  It took all 17 players to get this done!"

Coach Mike Farrugia concluded, "We've done a lot of great things this year but this is special. It doesn't mean anything in the standings but it shows where our kids are at and how much they've developed this year."

On Sunday, The Havelock Metal AA Petes defeated the Oshawa Minor Generals 10-0 to win the best of 5 series 3 games to none in the OMHA playdowns.  The Petes beat the Generals in game one, 12-1, game two 13-0, and are looking to feed off these wins to carry them through the remainder of the playoffs.