Last weekend the Atom Rep Sailors
participated in the Fort Erie Winter Challenge tournament. The
Sailors played two games on Friday against Petrolia Atom AE Oilers
(8-10-0) and Fort Erie Atom AE Jr. Meteors (1-13-3). Their third
game is Saturday afternoon against Schomberg Red Wings (24-3-0). The
boys lost two and tied one game, but had a fun time at their first
overnight tournament of the season.
The first game for the Atom Sailors was against the Petrolia Oilers on Friday morning at the Ridgeway arena. The Oilers opened the scoring within the first minute of the first period. The Sailors answered quickly with a goal by Wesley, assisted by Graham and Iain. Late in the period Justin was called for a hooking penalty sending the Sailors to the penalty kill. The Sailors effectively killed the penalty to end the period and start the second period.
The second period was uneventful until time expired and Caeleb was assessed a four minute penalty for contact to the head. Less than thirty seconds into the period, an Oilers' player was called for hooking leading to some four-on-four. The Sailors were able to kill the last part of the penalty, but could not generate any offence to start the third period.
With just over five minutes to play, Jared was called for a body contact penalty again sending the Sailors to the penalty kill. The boys killed the penalty while trying to add the go-ahead goal. With just under a minute to play, the Oilers scored to take a 2-1 lead. The Sailors worked hard to get the tying goal, but came up just short.
The second game Friday was at the Jaycee arena in Fort Erie against the hometown Fort Erie Meteors. Again the Sailors let the opposite open the scoring early, but were able to answer back with an unassisted goal by Caeleb. A minute later Gryffin scored, assisted by Graham giving the Sailors a 2-1 lead.
Midway through the period, a Meteor player was called for a body contact penalty on Wesley. As the whistle was blown, the same player speared Wesley with the blade of his stick resulting in an additional four minute penalty. What should have been a 5 on 3 for two minutes with an additional two minutes of 5 on 4 was assessed a 5 on 4 for six minutes. With eleven seconds to play in the period, Justin scored assisted by Mitchell for a 3-1 lead going into the third period.
The Sailors continued on the powerplay to start the third period. They could not add to their lead. minutes later a Meteor player was called for hooking giving the Sailors another powerplay and opportunity to extend their lead. The boys were not able to score despite some good opportunities. With just under ten minutes to play Iain was assessed a four minute penalty for contact to the head. Less than a minute into the penalty kill, the Meteors scored to cut the lead to 3-2. The Meteors scored with less than thirty second left in the game to tie the game.
The third game was Saturday afternoon at the Ridgeway arena against the Schomberg Red Wings. The boys played their best game of the tournament but lost 6-1. Schomberg opened the scoring early in the first period on a turnover by Wesley in the neutral zone. But Wesley made up for it seconds later with an unassisted goal to tie the game 1-1. Seconds later Iain was called for interference sending the Sailors to the penalty kill. The Sailors successfully killed the penalty, but with two minutes left in the period the Red Wings scored to lead 2-1.
Less than two minutes into the second period, the Red Wings scored to lead 3-1. The Sailors went back to the penalty kill just seconds later with Iain being called for a slashing penalty. As the penalty was winding down, Wesley was called for body contact. The Red Wings scored before the first penalty expired leaving them with the man advantage. They scored again on the second penalty to lead 5-1.
The Red Wings scored again early in the third period to extend their lead to 6-1. The Sailors got an opportunity to cut the deficit with a penalty to the Red Wings for head contact. The Sailors could not capitalise on the opportunity and the final score was 6-1.
Up next for the Sailors is playoff hockey. A series against the Mitchell Meteors was to begin January 12, 2016, but was postponed due to weather. The teams now play January 13 and 14, 2016. Let`s Go Sailors!