Nov 03, 2013 | Catherine Timmons | 1844 views
Silverstick Win!
Written by Tim Yantzi
The Expressway Ford Minor Peewee Huskies brought home the Regional Silver Stick Championship last weekend in Own Sound. After a 1-1-1 record during round-robin play, the Huskies clinched the title with two hard-fought final games.
The semi-final game on Nov. 3 saw New Hamburg battle their arch-rivals, the Owen Sound Junior Attack. With back and forth action in both ends of the rink, it was scoreless going into the second period. It wasn’t until Zach Hart found the back of the net that the Huskies got on the board first. The Attack quickly answered back, though, tying it up at one goal apiece.
With continued defensive play by both teams, the game looked like it was heading to overtime. But with just 18 seconds left in the third, Riley Benko caught Owen Sound on a bad shift change, walked in and went top shelf to secure the Huskies a spot in the championship finals with a 2-1 win over the host team. Netminder Josh Durrer earned the MVP of the game award for the Huskies.
New Hamburg then faced a well-rested Erie North Shore Storm team for the championship title. The Storm had gone undefeated in the round-robin, including a win over the Huskies, earning them a bye straight to the finals.
With the Dogs still riding high from their win in the semis, New Hamburg came onto the ice pumped and earned the first goal of the game when Benko scored unassisted with 5:02 left in the first.
The celebration was short-lived when Erie North Shore squeaked one in to tie it up with just 54 seconds left. This would be the only scoring in regulation time as both teams battled the next two periods with no goals.
Forcing the game into sudden-death overtime, the Huskies were starting to feel the effects of the semi-final game earlier in the day. With their gas tanks running low, the Dogs dug deep and started the four-on-four overtime with a vengeance. It took New Hamburg only two minutes and 20 seconds into overtime to calm the Storm. With the assist from Benko, Cole Wallace netted the game-winner off the Storm goalie’s shoulder, bringing New Hamburg’s fans to their feet and sent Erie North Shore home in second place.
To get to the championship, the Huskies had first played three teams in the round-robin portion of the tournament. New Hamburg faced Erie North Shore in the first match and lost a tough 3-2 battle to the team they would eventually face in the finals. Scoring for the Dogs were Steve Glauser from Benko and Benko assisted by Hart.
The next game saw the Dogs take on the East Gwillimbury Eagles. This game would end in a 1-1 tie, with Own Turner scoring the only goal for the Huskies, assisted by Benko.
Going into third and final round-robin game, the Huskies needed a win to advance to Sunday’s finals. Facing a well-known Owen Sound Attack team, the Dogs rallied together and rose to the occasion by pulling off a 4-3 win. After an exciting, back-and-forth game, all of the scoring came in the third period. Scoring first for New Hamburg was Benko from Turner and Peter Holmes. Glauser added another from Nik Bardouniotis. Next came two more goals from Benko on back-to-back boomers, assisted first by Reese Yantzi, then by Turner and Bardy. A rock-solid performance by Liam Robertson in net earned him the win.
The Huskies showed an awesome team effort in bringing home the Regional Silver Stick banner. New Hamburg now advances to the International Silver Stick competition in New Market in January.