The FCI Windows atom AA Peterborough Petes won their second tournament of the year and remain undefeated after facing their toughest test of the season this past weekend.
The team battled back from a two-goal deficit in the third period to win this past weekend’s (Nov. 3 to 5) London Junior Knights Green and White AA Tournament.
The tournament featured some of best atom AA hockey teams in Ontario. As well, the eventual winner had to play seven games in three days, winning three of those games on Sunday.
Peterborough opened the tournament Friday (Nov. 3) against the Scarborough Young Bruins. The Petes jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first period and eventually took the game with a 8-0 win.
Later that day the Petes faced the London Junior Knights White AA team. The two squads have previously faced off in Peterborough’s Kawartha Lakes AA tournament. Peterborough had won that game 5-1.
Playing in London on an Olympic-sized ice pad, the Junior Knights took the game to Peterborough. After a scoreless first period, London was the first on the board with a goal at 8:58 of the second frame. Peterborough responded less than a minute later with a power-play goal.
The Petes took the lead in the opening minute of the third period, then opened up a two-goal lead a minute later.
London poured on the pressure and made it a one-goal game at the 10-minute mark of the third, but Peterborough scored once more late in the game to hold on for the 4-2 win.
On Saturday (Nov. 4), the Petes started the day with an 8-0 win over Windsor.
Later that day, the team faced a talented Streetsville Tigers club. The Petes jumped out to a 1-0 lead with a short-handed goal in the first period, but Streetsville responded with their own short-handed goal early in the second period. Later in the second frame, Peterborough pulled ahead with a 2-1 lead. However, Streetsville tied the game up late in the third period and it ended in a 2-2 tie. It was the first game this season Peterborough had not won.
With the tie, Peterborough finished with the second-best record in round robin play and were matched up against London’s other AA team (Green) in the quarter-finals Sunday (Nov. 5) morning. The Petes opened the scoring early on the power play and never looked back, skating away with a 7-0 win.
In the semifinals, Peterborough faced the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds, the second-ranked AA team in Ontario. Peterborough again scored the first goal of the game, this time on the power play with just 12 seconds remaining in the period.
Peterborough would push their lead to 3-0 with two more goals in the second period, and eventually advance to the finals with a 6-0 win.
In the finals, they would once again face the London Junior Knights White team. This would be the third meeting of the season for the two teams.
The game was again played on the Olympic-sized ice surface, and London came out strong. After a scoreless first period, the Knights got on the board at the eight-minute mark of the second period. London continued to dominate play in the second frame. That pressure led to a second goal early in the third frame.
However, midway through the third period, the Petes would cut the deficit to one when they scored with a two-man advantage.
Two minutes later, Peterborough found themselves in penalty trouble. However, they were able to capitalize on a London miscue and score short-handed to tie the game up.
With just under two minutes left to play, London again found themselves down two men when the Petes scored to go ahead 3-2.
However, Peterborough made the final minute of the game interesting, taking a penalty with 54 seconds left to play. Despite being short-handed, the Petes were able to hold on for the 3-2 win and tournament championship.
The Petes are now 25-0-1 on the season. They return to league play this weekend with games on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.