Welland
Little
NHL
Tournament
March
13 -
16,
2008
The Mooretown Storm finished their season on a high note capturing the championship at the Welland Little NHL Tournament March 13-16. Mooretown finished with a perfect 6-0 record to record their 3rd tournament championship for the season. The Storm were undefeated in tournament play for the year against some very formidable opponents.
In the first game Friday morning Mooretown faced Tonawanda from NY and came away with a 4-3 victory.
Jared Pageau recorded 2 goals.
Brennan Mckegan had a goal and an assist.
Elijah Contreras added 1 goal.
Jacinda Bugler, Garrett Miller, Cade Robbins, Aaron Dobson, Nolan Gladwish and Josh Barraclough had assists.
Emma McCormick got the victory in net making some great saves.
This was an impressive win for Mooretown beating a AAA team from the States.
The second game Friday afternoon was against another NY state team Perinton Blades.
Again another close contest with a 3-2 victory.
Jared Pageau had 2 goals and Brennan Mckegan a goal.
Drew Pepper and Nolan Gladwish had assists.
Emma McCormick had another great game in net to record the "W".
Facing the Hamburg Hawks in game 3 Saturday morning another team from the state of NY. This time the Storm cruised to an 8-1 win in a very hard hitting affair. The referee's in the first three games let the kids play hockey and actually battle for the puck. It was a pleasure to watch.
Jared Pageau recorded 5 goals and an assist.
Elijah Contreras had a goal and 3 assists.
Nolan Farr and Josh Barraclough each had goals.
Drew Pepper, Garrett Miller, Aaron Dobson and Cade Robbins each had an assist.
Emma McCormick earned her 3rd victory in net.
The Saturday afternoon contest was a quarter final matchup with the Simcoe Warriors. The games were now longer as they went from 10-10-15 min. stop to 10-15-15 stop time periods.
Mooretown skated to a 4-2 win and a semi final matchup with Chatham Saturday evening.
Jared Pageau scored 2 goals with Brennan Mckegan and Garrett MIller adding singles.
Daniel Wellington added an assist.
Now playing their 3rd game of the day waiting an 1 1/2 hr delay the Storm skated to a 7-4 semi final against the Chatham Maroons. The team was exhausted but never quit. Emma McCormick had played all 185 minutes and picked up her 5th victory of the tournament.
Jared Pageau paced Mooretown with 5 goals.
Daniel Wellington and Elijah Contreras each added single goals.
Josh Barraclough had 3 assists and Drew Pepper a single.
Mooretown would now face Hershey in the finals Sunday morning.
The Storm were up against a very good Hershey team with the best individual player they had seen all year in # 15 for the Bears.
After a spotlight introduction and the National Anthem the Storm would score first with Jared Pageau scoring from Daniel Wellington at 8:51.
Elijah Contreras from Jared Pageau and Bailey Smalls gave the Storm a 2-0 lead at 5:26 of the first.
At 2:46 of period one Garrett Miller scored from Drew Pepper to give Mooretown a 3-0 lead.
With 36 seconds left Hershey scored to cut it to 3-1 at the end of one.
At 11:05 of period 2 Hershey scored to cut the lead to 3-2.
Just after that Hershey's sniper cut to the net at full speed and wiped out the net along with goaltender Emma McCormick. Both players remained down for several minutes. Despite being shaken up and physically hurt Emma McCormick showed her character and remained in the game knowing she was the only goalie Mooretown had available.
Hershey would tie the game at 6:55 of the 2nd on a goal from #15, his 3rd point of the game. The game was tied 3-3 as both teams headed for the dressing room and a flood. Mooretown had 15 minutes left in their season to pull out a victory.
The third period began and Mooretown looked like a very tired and weary team. Emma McCormick kept them in the game with several great saves.
Hershey would finally take the lead at 6:05 and would get another goal 17 seconds later to take a commanding 5-3 lead. Hershey had scored five straight goals and looked like they were on their way to the championship.
Mooretown took a time out to regroup and get their heads together. It paid off as Jared Pageau cut the lead to 5-4 at 5:29 of the third. Hayden MacDonald picked up the assist. The rest of the play went back and forth with Mooretown pulling their goalie for the extra attacker with about a minute left in the game. It looked lost with only about 8 seconds left when Jared Pageau took a pass from Daniel Wellington at center ice and skated around two Hershey players and in on net to bury a wrist shot with 0.2 seconds left to send the game into overtime.
The Mooretown faithful were going crazy at this remarkable comeback but the best was yet come. The overtime was 4-4 and a lot of room to skate.
The puck was dropped in the OT period and Hershey's star player deked his way thru the Storm and found himself on a breakaway. He blasted a hard wrist shot only to have Emma kick out her right pad and turn it away. The Storm's Daniel Wellington picked up the loose puck and stick handled down the ice to bury the game winner on a high wrist shot over the goalie's right shoulder. The Storm flooded onto the ice to celebrate this remarkable victory.
This was the most exciting game I have ever been part of and this team showed what they were made of; ALL HEART!
This team of young boys and girls were the most dedicated team I have ever coached and a real pleasure to be around.
GREAT WORK STORM !
Now let's hang the banner!
