Bantam Reps Bring Home the Motown Cup Again!, News, Bantam Rep, U15, 2011-2012 (Goderich Minor Hockey)

This Team is part of the 2011-2012 season, which is not set as the current season.
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Mar 26, 2012 | ldejager | 1920 views
Bantam Reps Bring Home the Motown Cup Again!
     For the second straight year, the Sales Creator Inc. Goderich Bantam Rep Sailors brought home gold from the Motown Cup Hockey Tournament held in Detroit, Michigan. The weekend saw the Sailors bond and solidify not only as a team to be reckoned with, but as a group of friends in their last hockey outing of the year.

     The tournament started off with a solid win over the Kent Cobras at the Southgate Arena on Friday, March 23. Within the first minute of play, Mykal Hodges passed the puck over to Steve De Jager who opened up the scoring, 1-0 Sailors. Goderich played hard to fend off this tough team, but the Cobras finally evened the score near the end of the first period, 1-1. The second period saw Kyle Langlois take the puck end to end and patiently wait for the right moment to pop in a lovely backhand, putting Goderich up by one. That spurred De Jager on to find his mark less than a minute later, 3-1 Sailors. The Kent team was able to narrow the gap near the end of the second, making it a 3-2 hockey game. De Jager and Eric MacPhee teamed up with some back and forth action until MacPhee banked one at 10:31 of the third period, 4-2 Sailors. The Cobras answered back at 4:23, narrowing the Goderich lead to 4-3. Sailor Jordan Johnston was stellar in net as he faced a penalty shot and stopped it like a pro. To seal the game, Langlois once again found the net while the boys were short-handed to make it a 5-3 victory for our Bantam Reps. The team was elated about their win, but sorry that forward Chase Kulich took an unfortunate hit which fractured his arm.
     Saturday the team met the Hespeler Shamrocks at the Melvindale Arena in a fierce battle that had everyone on the edge of their seats. The Sailors opened up the scoring once again, as Nick Souch beat a Hespeler player to the puck and managed to get it over to Langlois who was in the right place to tuck it away, 1-0 Sailors. The Shamrocks evened it up on a power play goal a few minutes later, 1-1. The Hespeler players were getting under the Sailors' skin as we took quite a few penalties in the first period. The Shamrocks capitalized on every power play, making it a 3-1 game by the end of the first. The Sailors regrouped in the second though, and turned things up a notch. Just a few seconds into the second period, and shorthanded by two men, De Jager scored on a breakaway, closing the gap to 3-2. At 7:03, MacPhee nailed one, evening up the score to three goals apiece. A few minutes later, MacPhee perfectly set up Hodges for the go-ahead goal, 4-3 Sailors. The undaunted Shamrocks tied it up again at 3:27, making it a 4-4 score. A very physical and sometimes dangerous third period followed as each team tried to pop in the game winner. The Goderich defensemen protected goalie Branden Bean with all their might as the opposition took runs at him and encroached on his space. Tempers were flaring, but in the end it was the Hespeler team who managed to go ahead with just a minute left in the game, putting an end to this wild and unruly meeting.
     Sunday morning very early, the Sailors met their third opponent, the Motown Machine, again at the Southgate Arena. Fatigue was definitely a factor in this game, but the Sailors still came out on top and battled hard against this American team. Goalie Jordan Johnston did a superb job between the pipes for the Sailors, despite not feeling 100%. The scoring was opened again by Goderich, as Tyler Dickson passed the puck to Ethan Lajeunesse who ripped one from the point. Rylan Lamb was able to tip that shot in the net to put the Sailors up by one. A few moments later Dickson nailed one to put the Sailors up 2-0. The Motown players gained some momentum in the second period as they scored at 7:56, making it a 2-1 game. The Sailors were determined to bring home a win though, and De Jager, MacPhee, and Hodges joined forces to score the next two goals of the game, 4-1 Sailors. The third period started off with Langlois making a sweet pass up to Hodges who made no mistake at 11:11, putting the Goderich boys up by a score of 5-1. A crazy bounce for the Motown team resulted in one more goal for them at the end of the third, but the Sailors brought home the well-deserved 5-2 victory.
     After pool play was completed, three teams had two wins and a loss, but it was our Sailors that were in top spot after taking the goal differential into account. They were heading into a final confrontation with the Hespeler Shamrocks, and although they were confident and knew they could do it, they also knew it would be a nasty meeting. Jack Morris and Nate Helesic lengthened our bench and did a great job as they joined in on the action. Things got rough right away, with multiple penalties plaguing the Sailors. Defensemen MacPhee, Lajeunesse, Langlois, Lamb, and Thomas Pritchard were hustling like crazy and winning many battles. Despite their efforts, the Shamrocks scored the only goal of the period on a rocket from a face-off at 2:29, 1-0 Hespeler. The Sailors scored first in the second period, as Hodges and De Jager feverishly hounded the Shamrock goalie until one popped in, making it a 1-1 tie. Tyler Johnson was putting up a great fight against the much larger Hespeler players, not backing down for a minute. However, the Shamrocks took a commanding lead as they scored three goals in quick succession, putting them up by 4-1. Down but not out, the Goderich boys answered back before the end of the second period, as De Jager launched a shot from the left side that found its mark, 4-2 Shamrocks.  Just into the third period, Hodges, showing amazing athleticism as he had the whole weekend, charged down the right side beating the defender. He cut to the middle of the ice, jumped over the sprawling Hespeler goalie who was charging out to get to the puck, and flipped it in behind him. The Sailors were back in the 4-3 game. With just a minute left in the game, and a fierce determination to come from behind, De Jager banked one off the Hespeler goalie from behind the net, tying the game. This confrontation was not over as the two teams headed into a 5 minute sudden death overtime period.
     It was a very long five minutes as both teams frantically made their way to each others' nets. Along the way were many intense physical confrontations, penalties, and a couple of ejections, but both teams held fast for the full five, resulting in a shoot-out. Branden Bean was impeccable as he aggressively fended off every Shamrock attempt to score. Sailor Mykal Hodges scored on his attempt, and then Dickson tucked it away for the game winner as the Goderich team won the game and the tournament trophy. The fans were thrilled and applauded loudly as the Goderich team celebrated at centre ice and received their medals and trophy. Congratulations, boys!!!
     Huge thanks go out to coaches Mike Hodges, Matt and Rich MacPhee, and manager Dean Kulich for giving these boys a terrific season of hockey. As they all move on in their hockey endeavours, I'm sure this Motown win will be one that sticks in their minds for many years to come!
    

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