2007 - 2008
SARNIA JR. STING
Peewee MD

Sarnia Sting Jr. Peewee MD team were crowned the
champions of the Chicago Presidents’ Cup Tournament.

Chicago Presidents’ Cup Tournament

Leafs Ice Center

Friday, February 15-18, 2008

 The Sarnia Jr. Sting Major Peewee MD team headed to Chicago for the President's Cup Tournament. Game one was against the Boulder Colorado Bisons at 8:20 a.m. Greg Loucks started in net for the Sting and made a nice save on a Bison 2 on 1 break. The Sting had the first power play of the game and Koen Gendron broke away and just missed the mark. The Sting received their first penalty and Gendron broke away yet again and almost scored a short handed goal. The period ended in a scoreless tie. The second period was dominated by the Sting. Both teams had power play opportunities but no one was able to score.   Matt Hodgins finally broke the tie in the third period even though the team was short handed. Less than 2 minutes later, Justin Lindsay attempted a wrap around and the rebound came out to Chase Henne.  Henne scored the final goal of the game and the Sting took a 2-0 win, out shooting their opponent, 40-9.

Game two was against the Addison Grizzlies from outside Chicago. After a busy day of sightseeing in Chicago, the team arrived back at the arena for a 6:50 pm face-off. Chris Winch was in net for the Sting. The Grizzlies were penalized near the start of the period. Tristan Reeb rushed down the wing, put a shot on net and Koen Gendron pocketed the rebound for a 1-0 Sting lead. Half way through the period the Sting also found the penalty box. On the ensuing power play, the Grizzlies tied the game at one. At the 5:35 mark of the second period, the Sting found themselves short-handed but Matt Hodgins managed to steal the puck and put it in for a 2-1 lead.  In the third period, the Sting had penalty trouble once more and with 4:55 left in the period the Grizzlies scored a power play goal to tie the game. The final was a 2-2 tie.

The Sarnia Jr. Sting Major Peewee MD team had an early 7:00 a.m. game on Sunday, February 17th against another team from Colorado, the Hyland Hills Jaguars. A win would put the Sting into the semi finals the following day. Greg Loucks started in net. The Sting scored the first goal of the game on a power play. Brendan Hewton made a nice back pass to Justin Lindsay for the goal. The Jaguars were able to steal the puck for a breakaway chance but the player was pulled down and a penalty shot was assessed. Greg Loucks made a great save to keep the 1-0 lead. At the 1:50 mark while on a power play, Koen Gendron made a pass from behind the Jags net to Colin Lange. Lange scored on the short side for a 2-0 Sting lead. The Sting got into penalty trouble in the third period. The Jags were able to score a goal while holding a 5 on 3 advantage in man power to close the gap. With 13.4 seconds remaining in the game, Gendron rushed end to end and scored the final goal into an open net. With the 3-1 win the Sting finished the round robin in second place.

The team returned to the Leafs Ice Center for their semi final game at 8:20 a.m. the following morning. They were up against the Addison Grizzlies who they tied 2-2 in the round robin. Chase Henne scored the game’s opening goal on a break away, set up by Brendan Hewton. The Sting had another power play goal at the 1:40 mark of the period. Chase Henne was able to score his second of the game after Fred Lebel shot from the point, Koen Gendron deflected it and Henne put it in. Before the end of the first, Koen Gendron scored a beautiful break away goal after deking out both the defense and the goalie for a 3-0 Sting lead. Eight seconds into the second period, Henne completed the hat trick on a pass from Justin Lindsay. The team was running on all cylinders and at the 9:54 point of the third, Kyle Classen took a shot on net and Matt Hodgins was on the door-step, to score on the rebound. The coaches made a goaltender change and Chris Winch made some good saves to keep the shutout. Justin Lindsay scored the final goal of the game on a wrap-around to send the team to the finals against their Forest City hockey league rivals, the LMHA Thunder.

The game against the LMHA Thunder began at 4:40 on Monday afternoon. The first period flew by and both teams had good chances. With 47.4 seconds remaining in the period, the Sting found themselves with a 2 man advantage. Jack Paterson passed a shot from the point to a waiting Brendan Hewton at the side of the net, who scored for a 1-0 Sting lead. Fifty seconds into the second period, Hewton won the face off and got the puck back to Justin Lindsay. Lindsay shot the puck into the net above the goalie’s glove hand for a 2-0 lead. The Sting found themselves down two men, under a minute later but goalie, Greg Loucks, was able to keep the puck out of the net. At the 8:12 mark, Colin Lange gave the Sting a 3-0 lead when he lifted the puck over the goalie and into the net. The Thunder got one back thirty seconds later, on a screened point shot. Eleven seconds after that, the puck was misplayed and the lead for the Sting had shrunk to one goal. The coaches called a time out for the team to regroup. In the final period, Matt Hodgins got a goal with 5:44 remaining after Colin Lange worked the puck to the goal mouth. Within 30 seconds, Koen Gendron rushed into the LMHA end and was able to roof the puck over the goalie for a 5-2 Sting lead. With 4:36 remaining the Sting were assessed a penalty so the Thunder pulled the goalie for a 6 on 4 advantage. Koen Gendron worked the puck down the ice and scored into the open net  at the 1:55 mark. The Thunder put the goalie back into their net and were able to pocket one more goal but it wasn’t enough as the Sting won 6-3. The Sarnia Sting Jr. Peewee MD team were crowned the champions of the Chicago Presidents’ Cup Tournament.

Congratulations to defensemen Michael Kerwin, Michael Kindrachuk, Jack Paterson , Frederick Deschenes-Lebel, Braydon Futers and C.J. Montanaro, forwards, Brendan Hewton, Chase Henne, Justin Lindsay, Koen Gendron, Tristan Reeb, Colin Lange, Kyle Classen, Garrett Deley and Matt Hodgins and goaltenders Chris Winch and Greg Loucks. A special thanks to the Coaching Staff for their leadership.