Jan 06, 2012 | Dave Duncan | 1819 views
Silver Stick, Day 2......Further Mountains!
Day 2 of the International Silver Stick Championships started even earlier than day 1. An 8:10 start in Fort Erie, meant a 5:45 wake up call for the boys. Making things worse, they were about to face the AE team of Orangeville, a AA centre with a population more than 4x that of Goderich. Things did not fair well for the Sailors, who came out with a loss in a very rough game. The Orangeville Flyers were much larger, and played a fast, physical game, and after several penalties, things quickly got out of hand.
The loss to Orangeville left the Sailors with 2 points, tied with Cleveland, and 1 ahead of Boulder, with those two teams facing each other that afternoon. Boulder having only played twice on opening day (both losses) were fresh, and managed to tie Bay City and beat Cleveland, leaving us tied with the Sharks. Cleveland advanced based on head to head tie-breaker, and the Sailors were eliminated.
The Kinsmen AE Sailors can hold their heads high, they not only remain Regional Silver Stick Champions, they represented Goderich well at the international level. The smallest team in the tournament, from the smallest community in the tournament, they pushed Bay City and Cleveland through both games, and out-skated Boulder for a win in a Silver Stick Finals tournament game. They also were great ambassadors for the town, answering questions about the tornado and community, being invited to a ceremonial face off at the opening ceremonies (at the end of Day 1), and being invited for a picture with the team from our sister city, and to a tournament there. Liam, Tanner, Kyle, Troy, Dwyer, Brady, Chris, Justin, Owain, Mitchell, Tristan, Luc, Ryan, Noah, and Braeden, you should all be proud of yourselves, all of us fans who traveled to Niagara Falls sure are.
****Update******
To show how strong the Sailors' pool was. Pool leader Orangeville became Tier 1 Finalists, losing to champion Barrie, but ending the tournament with a 6-1 record. The 4th place team in our pool, Cleveland, who we were down 2-1 to after 2 periods, became the Tier 2 International Silver Stick Champions. 3rd place Boulder (who we beat 3-1) eventually lost in the Tier 2 semi-finals. 2 teams from other pools advanced to the quarters without a win.