Sarnia Novice 1 ‘Conroy’s Welding’ Pacers Provincial Championship Weekend

The Novice 1 Pacers traveled to Whitby on Friday to start their quest for the Novice B2 Provincial Championship. Game 1 saw Sarnia face an Owen Sound squad sporting sweaters in Sarnia’s Black, Orange and White colours. As would happen in a number of the games over the weekend, Sarnia got off to a fast start in the first period and by the initial buzzer had built up a 4-1 lead. The second period saw another quick goal off the opening face-off for Sarnia and despite the fact that the Pacers were not able to take advantage of numerous powerplay opportunities the second period would end with a 6-2 lead. Despite some late penalties in the third period the Pacers were able to hold for a convincing 11-4 victory in their first round-robin match up. Hitting the game sheet for Sarnia were Korey Conroy with 4, Sam McCormack with a hat trick and singles to Ryan Walker, Bert Thorpe, Blain Adams and Cory Burr. Picking up multiple assists were Callahan Doughty with 3 and Drew Morgan with 2.

Game 2 saw the Pacers face the West Durham Rock and in what amounted to a power-play practice for the Pacers they were able to score a convincing 7-2 victory. Brayden Bell played well when tested (also picking up an assist on a late second period goal) and scoring the goals for the Pacers were Conroy with 5 and singles to Morgan and McCormack. Multiple helpers were added by McCormack with 4 and 2 each to Doughty and Morgan.

Sarnia’s third game and second on Saturday was against the other undefeated team in the grouping, Orillia, and would determine who would finish as the top seed heading into the Sunday semi-final games. This game was close from the start with the Pacers jumping out to a 3-2 lead at the end of the first only to have Orillia tie things up at 5’s by the end of the second. Some good team defence and great saves in the third allowed Sarnia’s two third period goals to be difference as they were able to clinch a semi-final berth with a tight 7-5 victory. Scoring for the Pacers was McCormack with 2 and singles to Jack Dunn, Morgan, Conroy, Adams and Kaden Fulcher. Alex Mayhead chipped in with 2 assists.

This victory set the stage for the semi-final match up with Oakville who Sarnia had defeated earlier in the season to capture the gold in a Guelph tourney. Oakville came out strong and forced the Pacers into some penalty trouble in the first which limited their own offensive opportunities. Strong penalty killing and goaltending allowed Sarnia to come out of the first only down by a score of 1-0. In the second period the Pacers began to catch fire, capitalized on some power-play opportunities of their own and outscored Oakville 4-2 to take a 1 goal lead into the final frame. With play tight at both ends of the rink Oakville managed to tie the game and jump into a two goal lead with less than 5 minutes to play. Sarnia battled hard and got the game to within a goal with a minute and a half to go but could not come up with the play to tie the game. Oakville went on to win the championship with an overtime victory over Orillia who had defeated Barrie in the other semi-final contest. Netting goals for Sarnia were Conroy with 3 and Burr with 2.

Despite a disappointing end to the season the team should hold their heads high as they were champions in 3 tournaments, runners up the zone championship and made it to the semi-finals in the provincial championships. A pretty great year for a great bunch of kids !!