The New Hamburg Legion Major PeeWee A Rep team made it back-to-back Hespeler Olympic Tournament Gold medal performances sweeping aside the opposition with four straight wins December 27-28 in Hespeler.
The team began defence of the title won by last year’s squad tangling with Hamilton on Thursday morning.
The Huskies came out firing on all cylinders with goals by
Josh Beach from Jackson Gerber, and Josh Blier from Greg Yeoman staking New
Hamburg to a 2-0 lead after the first period. The pressure continued in the second as Blier
struck again on a nice feed from Evan Denison.
Jackson Holmes was ably turning aside the few Hamilton shots there were
and Jackson Normandeau added a fourth marker in the third period to make the
final 4-0 Huskies. Game MVP (and a
lovely Hespeler Olympics Player of the Game hat) went to Greg Yeoman with Josh
Blier being the TLC Petfood Huskie of the Game.
Later on Thursday the Huskies tangled with the Tanners from
Acton, but it was the Dogs who did the beating this day rolling over Acton
5-0. All three forward lines were in on
the scoring as Evan Denison potted two with helpers from Joel Domm and Josh
Blier, Josh Beach and Greg Yeoman scored with assists to Sam Miller and Jackson
Normandeau found the back of the net with help from line-mates Tim Wenn and
Daniel O’Connell. Colton Holba collected the shutout. Blier was awarded Tournament Player of the
Game honours with Evan Denison being tabbed as the TLC Petfood Huskie of the
Game.
Friday dawned bright and early with the Huskies tangling
with the host Shamrocks looking to keep their unbeaten streak, their winning
every period streak and their shutout streak intact. Josh Blier opened the scoring as the Huskies
won the first period 1-0. Jackson Holmes
stood tall in the second as he was the Huskies best penalty killer as the rest
of team spent some time in the penalty box.
Evan Bender pounded one in from the point though halfway through the
second stretching the lead to 2-0. Beach,
Blier and Normandeau added third period goals, but it was the line of Blier,
Denison and Domm dominating the game from start to finish in a 5-0 Huskies
win. Holmes wore the MVP Hespeler hat home
with Joel Domm peppering the Hespeler goal continuously and earning the TLC
Petfood Huskie of the Game honours.
The gold-medal game Friday afternoon would be a rematch of
the opening contest. Holba and the defence crew of Tim Geiger, Bender, Lucas Bast
and Wyatt Rempel continued to stymie the opposition. Josh Beach scored late in the first, then
set-up Gerber and Normandeau early in the second before Tim Wenn scored one
minute later to make it 4-0 Huskies.
Entering the third period the team had won 11 straight
periods and had yet to be scored upon. The
gold medal was firmly in their sights. They
managed to make it interesting though as Hamilton scored on a breakaway to make
it 3-1 then seized momentum scoring two more to make it 4-3 with six minutes to
play. Then just to make sure the fans
got their money’s worth, the Huskies took 2 penalties late.
Hamilton called a timeout with 48 seconds to play and Holba
stood tall, aided by Gerber, Bast, and Blier who held off a 5 on 3 then a 6 on
3 to close out the 4-3 win and the tournament victory. Captain Beach was
awarded the Player of the Game hat while Lucas Bast skated off with the TLC
Petfood Huskie of the Game recognition.
The team wraps up their strong regular season play this
Thursday at home against Oakville before beginning OMHA preliminary round robin
action next week.