SEMI-FINALISTS in the Atom Liftlock Tournament - Jan 11th - 13th, 2019.
On the weekend of January 11 – 13th, the Atom AE team travelled to Peterborough to participate in the annual Atom Liftlock tournament, along with the Atom Rep team and one of our Atom LL teams. Our first game of the tournament was on Friday, January the 11th against the Lindsay Muskies. It was a great team to have a re-match against, as Lindsay slipped by the Bears in a tournament in Niagara on the Lake in the fall, beating us out in the last minute of play to steal the championship game. Time for a re-match!
The first period was evenly matched with both teams battling it out, neither one giving an inch. Finally, at the start of the first period, Phenix C. knocked one in to put the Bears on the scoreboard, with assists going to Brayden R. and Joshua D. The Muskies followed up a minute later with a goal to tie up the score. The remainder of the second period saw some great hockey and intense play. The Bears were determined to win this rematch and just one minute into the third period, Brayden R. belted one into the net, with Joshua D. and Phenix C. credited with the assists, to take the lead once again. Trent C., Chris R. and Lincoln W. also had some fantastic rushes on net and kept the head on. Our defensive lines hunkered down, along with goalie Ben W., to keep the Muskies at bay and finally the clock clicked down, giving the Bears their first win of the tournament and exacting revenge on the Muskies. Final score, 2-1 in favour of South Muskoka.
Saturday the 12thwas an early wake-up call with the Bears taking on the Mooretown Jr. Flags in the first game of the day, a 7:30 a.m. start at the Evinrude Leon Rink. It was a scoreless draw until late in the opening frame when the Flags finally got one past Bears goalie Ben W., who saw more rubber in this game than a Canadian Tire mechanic. Clearly dominate through the first half of the game, Mooretown threatened to blow it wide open midway through the second period, scoring a pair of goals just 0:16 seconds apart. The Bear’s showed their resiliency though, getting through the second period down just 3-nothing. The ice finally started to tilt in the opposite direction to start the third period, led by Bears forward Brayden R. who scored back-to-back unassisted goals just 1:04 apart. All of a sudden it was a one goal game and South Muskoka had momentum on its side. Then, with just 5 minutes to go, Grayden Z, capitalized on a scrambled in front of the net and slid home the crucial tying goal, assist to Doran S. The final minutes saw a flurry of action at both ends but the game ended in draw. One win and one tie through the first two games.
Later that day, it was over to the Northcrest Arena for game 3, up against the North Durham Warriors. It turned out to be two evenly matched teams, with plenty of chances at both ends of the ice but no goals through the first two periods. The Bears held the edge in possession time, and the odds finally paid off just two minutes into the third period when Tyson O. found the back of the net with Brayden R and Hunter L. drawing the assists on what turned out to be the only goal of the game. Both Lincoln W. and Trent C. were aggressive throughout and made some spectacular shots, keeping the heat on the Warriors. Ben W. continued his stellar play and earned his first shutout of the tournament. Over the first 3 games, the South Muskoka net-minder allowed just 4 goals. The victory kept the Bears undefeated and earned them a spot in the semi-final playoff round, which meant they would play a third game in less than 12 hours.
It was a familiar foe they would come up against. The Mooretown Jr. Flags, the team that the Bears played early that morning would provide the competition. South Muskoka fought back from a three-nothing deficit in their first encounter of the day to earn a hard-fought and emotionally charged tie. This time around, the Flags jumped out to a two-nothing lead in the first period but once again, Brayden R. narrowed the lead to two-one in the opening period with the assist going to Joshua D. Forwards Trent C., Lincoln W., Grayden Z and Chris R. all gave it their all in this intense game to kept the momentum going; their intense pressure on the Flags was obvious. The Bears did all they could to keep it close but Mooretown restored the two goal lead in the second period, and potted three more in third for a 6-victory.
Along with our stellar goaltending, our defensive lines are to be given special credit this weekend. Particularly against the two tough games against the Mooretown Jr. Flags, our defensive players, Jack G., Doran S., Malcolm G. and Hunter L., played phenomenally and the team couldn’t have asked for anything more. They were all aggressive throughout, played their positions well and thwarted the opposing forwards at every turn. Moreover, the whole South Muskoka team displayed excellent sportsmanship throughout and were full marks with a record of 2-1-1 in this high-level and intense tournament.