Make it 2 for 2!
Quick Feet 2002 won the championship at the Memorial Classic last
weekend. The team went 5-0-1 and won
Gold!
In the first of four round robin games Quick Feet battled it out with the Gators. The team was short a few players this game, but still pulled off the win. Final score was 3-1 for Quick Feet. Another great start to the weekend.
The second game on Friday was against the Quinte Spitfires. Early leads have become the trademark of this Quick Feet team and this game was no different. Just over a minute into the first period Luke Eurig used his speed down the side and beat the goalie to the blocker side with a beauty wrist shot. Then with just under four minutes remaining in the first, Evan Dewar put Quick Feet up by two when he backhanded a shot into the net off some good work from Owen Rahn to set up the play. Early in the second period with Quick Feet on the power play, Ethan Andrews picked up the puck off the boards and walked into the slot area and fired a hard shot to the top corner. A couple of minutes after that Will Black scored on the backhand on a pass from Graham Gateman. With eleven seconds left in the second period Quick Feet scored one of the prettiest goals of the tournament. Will Black sent Gavin Mikaczo wide with a hard pass and then drove the net only to tap in the return pass off the post and in. The second finished with Quick Feet up 5-0. The scoring continued in the third with Nathan Naves and a hard wrister on a pass from Luke Eurig. A couple of minutes later Nathan Naves scored his second of the game on a wrap around. To finish off the third Brody Leblanc scored with a wrap around of his own. Final score was 8-0 for Quick Feet.
First up on Saturday was HD Hockey. This would prove to be a tougher challenge for Quick Feet. Quick Feet didn’t show up until the third period in this game. HD Hockey took a two-goal lead when they scored one in the first and one in the second. Quick Feet started the third with a lot more spark than what was seen in the first two periods. Quick Feet opened the scoring on the penalty kill. Nathan Naves sent a great pass out to Will Black in front of the net and he made no mistake putting the puck into the top corner. Then a minute and a half later Luke Eurig scored on a harmless looking dump in that fooled the HD Hockey goalie and beat him through the legs as he went down to play the puck. Quick Feet maintained all the pressure in the third but could not get the winner and the game would end in a tie. Final score was 2-2.
The final round robin opponent was Power Play. This was a great hockey game. Both teams were battling for a top four finish and the right to play for Gold on Sunday. The first period finished scoreless. The Quick Feet defense of Tatum Behan, Thomas Gangl, Ethan Andrews and Coleson Fischer were outstanding in this game making it tough for Power Play to get pucks to the net. Quick Feet opened up the scoring in the second on a hard shot from Will Black to the top corner with Gavin Mikazco and Graham Gateman picking up the assists. Just a few minutes later Hayden Robinson was set free down the sideboards by Nathan Naves and then beat the goalie to the far side. With no further scoring in the second, the third was set to be an exciting period of hockey. Power Play had their chances in the third, but Quick Feet goalie Caden Prues stood his ground to earn the shutout. With no scoring in the third the game would finish with a 2-0 win for Quick Feet. Great game!
With 3 wins and 1 tie in round robin play, Quick Feet finished in 1st place out of 12 teams and earned a spot Sunday’s final four playing for gold.
In the semi-final game Quick Feet met up with Regional Express, the same team they beat in the finals two weeks ago. Regional Express did not get their revenge in this one. Quick Feet jumped out to a quick first period lead as Nathan Naves one-timed a pass from Luke Eurig and into the back of the net. That would be all the scoring for the first period. Early in the second Quick Feet made quick work on the power play when Nathan Naves scored his second of the game as he picked up the puck in our end zone and raced down the sideboards and buried the puck to the glove side. That was followed by another power play marker 40 seconds later when Owen Rahn tapped in a pass from Brody Leblanc and Luke Eurig. Quick Feet took full advantage of their power play chances and with less than 20 seconds left in the second period Will Black scored the third power play goal of the game when he beat the Regional Express goalie to the glove side on a break-away. The Quick Feet defense, with Eric Black and Owen Moyer back into the line-up, were exceptional at keeping Regional Express away from the net and Quick Feet goaltender Landon Kinch was solid in net preserving the shutout. Final score was 4-0 for Quick Feet and the boys were off to play for Gold!
The gold medal game was played against Ontario Wolfpack. To be honest, this wasn’t one of the most exciting championship games to watch but the boys pulled off their second championship win. The game started off with Wolfpack pressure but the scoring chances were turned away. Then Quick Feet were able to get their first scoring opportunity in the first period as they mucked their way in front of the net with Evan Dewar banging away a couple of rebounds before Owen Rahn finally punched home the last rebound giving Quick Feet a one goal lead. There was no further scoring in the first. In the second Hayden Robinson took advantage of a gratuitous bounce off the goaltender’s pad and he poked it into the net. A couple of minutes later Will Black went five-hole on a pass from Nathan Naves. There was no further scoring in the second. The Wolfpack applied pressure in the third as they did in the first two periods but the Quick Feet defense kept things out of the middle of the ice. With just over a minute left in the game, Quick Feet sealed the deal when Hayden Robinson one-timed a shot into the net on a set up from Nathan Naves and Luke Eurig. The championship celebration started a little early as off the face-off, the Wolfpack was allowed to walk in untouched and score a goal. It wasn’t enough. Quick Feet were gold medal winners! Final score was 4-1 for Quick Feet.
Another great tournament boys! A record of 5-0-1 and tournament champions! This was a full team effort. Keep up the hard work! Only one more tournament to go!