The Service Master Restore Minor Peewee AE
Petes headed into the weekend prepared and determined to bring home a
championship. The first step in accomplishing their goal was to go into
Belleville and win game three on Saturday night (March 23), which they knew
would not be an easy task as victory had eluded them in four prior games at the
Quinte Sport and Wellness Centre.
On this Saturday night, the Petes victory was never in doubt, as they stayed focused and stuck to a game plan that overwhelmed the Bulls. The Petes persistent fore-check would pay off in the last minute of the opening period when Riley Hagerman put the Petes on the board. Following a flurry of action in the Bulls zone throughout the second period, James Chandra was able to notch a late period goal and give the Petes a little breathing room.
Not willing to take a chance and sit back with a two goal lead, the direction from the coaching staff going into the third was to keep the pedal down and not give the Bulls any opportunities to get back into the game. The players responded quickly with an explosion of goals in the opening three minutes from Will Mattie, Chandra and Josh Watson. Chandra would then complete the Petes scoring at the midway point of the third with a power play goal to put the Petes up 6-0. The Bulls regained some dignity with a pair of goals in the closing minutes, but the decisive 6-2 victory from the Petes was a statement that they were ready to claim the championship. Assists during the game went to Hagerman (3), Chandra, Watson, Ben Herder, Sawyer Spencley and Jack Pacey.
The Petes had put themselves in prime position to capture a title on home ice Sunday afternoon (March 24). As the Petes took to the ice you could feel the excitement in the air. A large home crowd was pumped up and the building got loud as fans were pushing their team towards the championship. It was an entirely different game than the night before, this Bulls team had their back against the wall and weren’t going down without a fight. A costly turnover near the end of the first gave the Bulls the opportunity they needed to score the opening goal and suck some life out of the building.
The Bulls lead would stand until early in the third period when Hagerman continued his dominant play and was able to steal the puck off a Bulls defenseman and tie things up. The Petes would take a costly penalty at the midway point of the third, allowing the Bulls to capitalize on the power play and regain the lead.
With just under seven minutes to play, Hagerman would put the Petes on his back once again as he received a cross ice pass from Chandra and deposited it backhand to the top shelf of the Bulls net. After a grueling late penalty kill from the Petes, including a couple of key saves from Nathan Crossley, the Petes and Bulls found themselves headed to overtime.
The break between periods afforded the Petes coaches an opportunity for one last chat with the team, where the message was pretty simple – “everyone has worked really hard to get to this point of the season. Just imagine how awesome it’s going to be when we score the game winner and the crowd goes crazy and we can throw sticks and gloves in the air – it’s going to be awesome, let’s go do it”.
The crowd didn’t have to wait long as less than two minutes into the overtime period, Will Mattie would emerge as the hero when his perfectly placed dump in eluded the Bulls goaltender to clinch the series and earn the Petes a Lakeshore Championship.
The coaching staff would like to extend a big thank you to all the players, parents, fans and sponsors who made this season a success.