With a first round bye for the playoffs,
the Service Master Restore Atom AE Petes decided to enjoy the down time and
prepare for playoffs by taking a road trip to the North Kawartha Community Center
on Sunday (Jan. 21) to compete in the Atom AE Petes All Star Event.
The day opened up with an accuracy shooting competition where Sam Dickey set the early pace by hitting 3 of the 4 targets. Dickey would remain in the lead until the final shooter, at which time Archer Stalteri (returning to the ice for the first time in 2 months), managed to draw even with Dickey. In a show of sportsmanship, Dickey conceded the award to Stalteri and honoured the hard work that Archer has been putting forth to recover from an injury. Team Carrick-Mercer earned both points in the competition (most targets hit by the team and individual winner).
Event two was the hardest shot competition and the booming slapshot from team Garfat-Pacey’s Jayden Howson (43 MPH) captured top honours, with Caeden Kent falling just short with his 40 MPH wrist shot. Team Garfat-Pacey earned two points with their team having the highest average (35 MPH) and Howson claiming the individual honour.
The third event of the day was a fastest skater competition, with head to head races. Team Carrick-Mercer dominated the head to head races with wins from Olivia Mercer, Joe Donoghue, Adam Revak, Dickey and Kent, while Brody Carrick pulled off the win in the goalie race. Team Garfat-Pacey was able to salvage a split of the points when Howson claimed the fastest time for the day.
Event four pitted the teams against one another in a best of 3 shootout series, with the teams having to score 8 goals to win a round. Team Garfat-Pacey, backed by solid goaltending from Bradley Montgomery were able to win the first two rounds and claim the go ahead point for their team.
However, Team Carrick-Mercer would pull even in the fifth event when they won the best of 3 relay race series 2-0.
The All-Star Day concluded with a 30 minute 3 on 3 game, with the winning team taking home the overall title. Special guest referee Gabriela Revak made her debut in the stripes and was forced often to break out her teaching voice and gain control of the game, including a couple of warnings to the bench staff. Much like the rest of the day, the game was an evenly matched battle, with the score sitting at a 3-3 impasse when regulation ended.
The game and overall winner would be decided by a 3 person shootout, in which Montgomery managed to shut the door and a single goal by Cole Stevens ended up being enough to give Team Garfat-Pacey the title.
Members of the winning Team Garfat-Pacey included Bradley Montgomery, Jayden Howson, Jordan Garfat, Cole Stevens, Tobey Skopelianos, Josh Watson, Cole Scanlan and Jack Pacey – with the official team puck wrangler and assistant coach for the day being Oliver Pacey.
Runners up on Team Carrick-Mercer were Brody Carrick, James Chandra, Olivia Mercer, Joe Donoghue, Riley Hagerman, Sam Dickey, Caeden Kent and Adam Revak – with team captain for the day being Archer Stalteri.
A fun day was had by all and a stop for dinner at the Canoe and Paddle on the way home gave the kids and parents a great opportunity to relax before the busy playoff season gets under way.
The Petes will continue to keep busy over the next week and can be watched in action when they take on the Ennismore Eagles in a friendly exhibition game Tuesday night (Jan. 23) at the Kinsmen.
The Petes would like to extend a thank you to this week’s sponsor of the week – Holiday Ford.