Nov 22, 2015 | bdavidson | 841 views
Lincoln Tournament Recap
This past weekend saw the NorStar Novice Bears traveling south to Lincoln to participate in the annual Doug Robinson Memorial tournament. With an unfavourable schedule and short bench, the Bears knew they would be in tough.
Friday morning saw the Bears take on the St. Marys Rock. St. Mary's opened the scoring but some hard work and skating by P. Boyde got the puck to C. Carlson who let a shot go. A driving T. Jennings was able to bury the rebound to tie the game. The Bears put up a strong effort but the travel legs had set in midway through the game that saw the team fall 5-1 in the end.
After a great team meal at the Boston Pizza in Grimsby sponsored by NorStar, the kids were back on the ice to face the eventual tournament winners, the Essex Ravens. The meal seemed to add some strength to the squad. The Bears were first on the board when W. Davidson muscled a puck passed up to her from G. Cardwell out of the zone. L. Downer pounced on it and took off down the ice. Some nifty stick work and a Cpl of sweet dangles around two defenders allowed her to bury what would turn out to be the team's lone goal. T. Babcock was able to turn aside many point blank chances but in the end the Ravens proved to be just too quick and took the 6-1 victory.
Saturday brought a new day and a fresh outlook which saw 4 players chosen to represent NorStar and the Bears in the annual tournament skills competition.
South Muskoka Hockey Jr. Rep Player of the Month C. Walker was chosen for the fastest skater/puck control and missed 1st place by just 1/100th of a second after blazing around the rink and through the cones with the puck. C. Carlson, fighting an illness all weekend was still able to score on more than half his penalty shots in the breakaway skills portion. J. Jennings was the teams most accurate shooter and the big winner was E. Guthrie who took home top prize as the tournament's Most Outstanding Goalie stonewalling the opposing shooters in his portion of the breakaway competition.
The third game was delayed by 40 minutes and with the team in need of something different Coach Boyde, Bobbett and McLennan had Trainer M. Jennings change up the pre-game routine. While stretching in full gear they reminded the team about effort, never quitting, and working for the teammates around you. The change of pace and reminders worked. The team played together like they all know they can. E. Brown was able to spring W. Davidson for a clear breakaway and she made no mistake burying the biscuit with a sharp wrister. B. Clayton was able to capitalize on being in the right spot at the right time always as he got one past the goal line with the help of linemates J. Chambers and J. Jennings with the assists. The teams were tied at 2 heading into the final frame with both Burlington and our Bears having chance after chance. Our overworked D never stopped hustling and saw E. Gliddon catch and strip player after player. The teamwork paid off as teamwork always does and the white line kept up their momentum from the previous game as W. Davidson and L. Downer set E. Brown up for their second tally of the night. A late goal by Burlington sent the game to OT and after 5 minutes they were off to a shootout. A laser beam shot by J. Chambers put the team in front but luck just wasn't on their side in Niagara and they fell 2-1 after the shooters had their chances.
Although the weekend did not have the outcome the team had been hoping for, the tournament had many positives to build on going forward.