Jun 01, 2010 | Terry Whiteside | 1814 views
98's Finish Season With AAA Championship!
What a spring season! This was a much different team this year. We were in every game. With a little scoring touch here and there our record would have been above .500. We outplayed most opponents and all players were great contributors to the team effort.
In our 1st game we played the Phantoms (Don Mills Flyers & Toronto Marlies). The boys came out strong and really took the forecheck to them. With 1:00 minute remaining in the 1st #21 for the Phantoms was beaten by Justin Donnelly to the inside, but instead of letting him go, #21 stuck out his knee and took Justin out. This was a very deliberate knee and should have been an ejection from the tournament, however, the refereeing left a little to be desired. Justin was unable to play the rest of the tournament, but was always there on the bench cheering on and motivating his team.
That hit and lack of call really affected our team. Our players were very concerned for Justin and just didn't get their heads back into the game. The game ended 6-1 for the Phantoms. Logan "Yogi" Freiburger scored our goal assisted by Owen "Rufus" Routheut and Cole "Hodgie" Hodgins.
In game 2, we played probably our best game of the season. We were up against Stonemill Storm and they have proven to be one of the top spring teams in Ontario. We took the forecheck to them hard and their players didn't like it and didn't know how to react to it. We had numerous scoring chances throughout the game, but again we came up against a "poor" non-call by the referees. Stonemill was in our zone and we cleared the puck out, which meant their players must clear out. Before they cleared the zone the puck was shot back inside the line and was picked up by one of their players on his way out. This should have been blown dead at that time, however the ref's let the play continue and Stonemill scored the only goal of the game as a result. Stonemill went on to win the Elite AAA Championship by beating the Puckhogs 8-0.
Game 3 - We were not blessed with a great schedule this weekend. Not only were we playing halfway across the city from our hotel, but we had a 9:30 game Friday night and a 8:50 am game on Saturday morning. We played the North Central Ice Kings, a team that we should do well against. With the lack of sleep, the boys put up a good effort, but not their usual work effort. The game ended 5-2 for North Central. Our goals were scored by Owen "The Hammer" O'Donnell and Braiden "Tank" Marshall. Assists went to Derek "The Rock" Acheson and Hodgins.
Game 4 - So with our schedule this was our 4th game in less than 24 hours. Again the referees didn't see things the way our fans saw them. Owen "Rufus" Routheut was out of the game in the first with 4 penalties. In all we took 8 penalties and the Puckhogs scored 5 power play goals. Our only goal was scored by Jorden "JR" Reaman with assists going to James "The Crasher" Whidden and Nic "Shooter" Whiteside.
The players and parents were able to enjoy Saturday afternoon and evening back at the hotel with a pot luck dinner and refreshments. Speaking of refreshments, rumour has it that our trainer was inflicting damage on unsuspecting elevator riders after having "a couple" refreshments himself.
With the round robin portion over, we were put into the AAA division for the playoff. We met up with Collingwood Blue Thunder on Sunday morning at 8:15am. To say that the boys were looking forward to this game would be a huge understatement. Many of them actually were frothing at the mouth in anticipation of proving to their buddies on Blue Thunder who the best team was. The coaches delivered a speach prior to the game about playing against friends and how you treat them just like you would treat any opponent. Our players definitely took that to heart. They came out banging and crashing and there were several Collingwod players left looking up at the rafters wondering what the heck just happened. We generated more scoring chances in this game than in several games combined. We hit 4 goalposts and a cross bar in the 1st period alone. At the end of the game our players were very happy with their effort and the result was a 6-2 win. The scoring was well spread out throughout the team. Whidden had 2 goals and an assist. Reaman had a goal and a assist. O'Donnell had a goal and 2 assists. Bryce "The Rat" Fletcher had a goal and an assist. Freiburger had a goal. Whiteside had 3 assists. Owen "Reigs" Reigling had 2 assists. Tyler "Chirper" Sutter had an assist and Hodgins had an assist.
This win put us into the AAA Championship Game against North Bay Elite. Our players could smell and taste the success. We came out a little slow, but soon turned it on and took it to North Bay. We again had trouble scoring on our chances, but we scored 1st when Whidden scored from Whiteside and Sutter. North Bay didn't give up and scored to tie the game midway through the 1st. Fletcher scored the winner late in the 1st with assists to O'Donnell and Reigling. Hodgins would add an insurance marker in the 2nd with assists going to Freiburger and Routheut. The game ended with a 3-1 victory for Quick Feet and the AAA Championship for the Memorial Classic.
Our goaltending tandem of Braeden "The Wall" Ellis and Kallen "Ollie" Macumber were solid for us throughout our spring season and always gave our players confidence that we had a chance to win.
Our defense was very solid this year. Braiden "Tank" Marshall led our D in his 2nd season with his big hits. Collin "Octopus" Zettler was a great addition to our team this year and was a tower of strength for us. Derek "The Rock" Acheson took to defense very well after being converted from the wing. Tyler "Chirper" Sutter was in the face of the opposition at all times. Owen "Rufus" Routheut was like a "Dog on a bone" whether we had him playing defense or forward. Jordan "Waddy" Waddell was a new addition this year and played solid D for us.
Our forward lines were all contributors.
Logan "Yogi" Freiburger always led the team with his focus and determination and his never quit work ethic. Cole "Hodgie" Hodgins was a wrecking crew on ice. Anything that moved got hit! Justin "The Heart" Donnelly was The Heart of our team. He would do anything he was asked and do anything for his teammates. This line was always a force and the opposition knew they were in for a tough shift when these guys came on the ice.
Jorden "JR" Reaman led the finese line. He used his speed to create opportunities. Nic "Shooter" Whiteside was a convert from defense to forward this year. With his knack for the puck and his vision on the ice, he helped create many scoring chances. James "Crasher" Whidden turned out to be a very good compliment to this line. This added a banger into the mix and he was very skilled at making good outlet passes when breaking out of our end.
Owen "Reigs" Reigling was always tough on face-offs. In his 1st year with us, he really developed his team play skills. Owen "The Hammer" O'Donnell was always looking for the next victim for him to demolish on the ice. Bryce "The Rat" Fletcher used his speed and shot to surprise opponents and used all other devices to get under the skin of the other team.
What a great finish to the season. It was nice to see the players enjoying their success, especially after many of them endured such a long hard winter season. Thank you to all the players, parents and fans for making this spring season a success. I know that many new friends were made, many new things experienced and lifelong memories made.