The
Tornadoes finished a weekend of ups and downs showing that perseverance and
effort will lead to great things.
The Tornadoes long weekend of hockey began Thursday evening with a regular season match up against the St. George Generals. The boys came out quickly and after the first goal was scored the next 10 came flooding out. The highlight of the game was an impressive 10 different goal scorers contributing to the 11 goal total.
Heading in to the tournament Friday morning the boys faced a tough test in the Strathroy Jr Rockets. Strathroy (reg season 6-0-3) made an early push and were able to capitalize on their early chances to take a 3-1 lead. The boys looked a little down but instead of folding up shop, they decided to buckle down and through solid back-checking and defence forcing turnovers, the offence came back with 2 to finish the opener in a 3-3 tie.
Later that day the Tornadoes took on the St. Mary’s Rock (reg season 3-1-4). This game was a little more wide open both teams registering good scoring chances. The Rock were able to take advantage of a couple rebounds to take a 2-0 lead. Tburg answered back with one but with the goalie out late St.Marys scored an empty netter to salt away the 3-1 victory.
Tillsonburg came back Saturday with a ''win and you’re in'' game against Kincardine. A very even matchup played out as Tillsonburg moved the puck well and were defensively solid yet the Kinucks still managed to get ahead by 2. With the clock working against them the Tornadoes really turned it on and through solid defensive zone coverage and a determined forward group the boys started, and completed a 3 goal comeback to secure their place in Sundays’ semi-finals.
The semi finals came against Lambton Shores and the boys were ready… but so was the Lambton goaltender! Tburg threw every puck they could at their net getting 39 shots on goal and through volume were able to get only one in the back of the net. The defence and goaltending combined to keep the shots against to 15 for the 1-0 shutout.
The final game for the Peewees, was also the final game of the tournament. Following finals wins by the Atoms and Midgets the pressure was on! The Tornadoes were pumped to get a chance to even things up in the final as they were once again facing St. Mary’s for the title. The boys came out with some jump in the first and had the majority of scoring chances. They were up against another solid goaltender but still managed to bang one in. That one goal was enough as a tired Tornadoes dug deep and held on for the win!
Coach Paul Groeneveld spoke after the game saying ‘’Congrats boys on our first tournament win of the year. On behalf of the team executive, it was a pleasure coaching a group that was focused on the team and worked hard for a common goal. Great weekend of hockey, let’s keep it going!’’
Great job boys and great job to the parents, friends and family for all the support all weekend long!