The Wolves headed for the hills… Richmond Hill that is for a fun filled weekend of hockey and hotel related antics. Here is a brief synopsis of the tournament.

Friday Feb 3^rd 11am Game 1- Waterloo vs Georgetown

An action packed game to say the least with Georgetown doing their best to try and gain a win over Waterloo. The first goal was scored by Xavier on a Josh rebound. Georgetown bounded back with a return goal on a strong solo effort. The second Waterloo goal was terrific… a great pass from Xavier to Josh who roofed it into the top right corner. And a suspenseful finish… down a player on a late penalty, Georgetown pulled their goalie, and played 5 on 5 against Waterloo. Thankfully Waterloo held tight and managed the 2-1 victory.

A brief break for lunch, checking into the hotel and then back for a 3:15 game against Acton.

Game 2 against Acton:

“Never take a team for granted.” Acton lost 10-2 in their previous game, against a team called Avenue Road, a team we would come to know much better.  Fueled with an initial taste of victory, we all hoped for an easier time with Acton than against Georgetown. The Xavier/Josh/Tristan trio again clicked scoring the first goal. However the game overall was very even play, until Curtis scored with Dawson assisting, Waterloo managed a 2-0 win. Congratulations on our goalie’s shut outs.

Back to the hotel for mini sticks, swimming, hot tubing, saunas, man hunt and lots of pizza and other treats. The parents too managed to have their own fun down in the party room. A “think tanked” group of Waterloo parents discussed and solved most of the problems of the world, late into the evening. Thankfully our next game was a civilized 1:15 start on Saturday am.

Saturday Waterloo vs Ajax Game 3: Steps away from the famous Yonge Street the next games were played at the Elgin Barrow arena, a small rink with tight corners. What team would we face, what game would our boys bring to this barn today? Well the mini sticks and swimming must have been just the warm up the boys required as they managed an 8-0 victory over Ajax. The Tristan/Josh/Xavier line again went into high gear once again scoring the first goal. Then methodically, line by line the Waterloo Wolves ran up the tally.  Lots of different scoring combinations; Brody and Curtis, Xavier and Tristan x 2, Brody, Casey and Jonathon, Matt, Dawson and Josh, Xavier and Josh, Jeremy, Bryce and Colin and finally Josh, Tristan and Xavier. Well done team.

More hotel action (including a swat team) but an early night overall given our 9:00 am semi final game.

Game 4:Semi-Finals vs Richmond Hill. The gateway to the finals. In the first 30 seconds, Richmond Hill came very close to scoring… would this be a foreshadowing of things to come? Nope.  Xavier, in on the left, fires to the right, top shelf, look out peanut butter – a goal! A second goal followed, and with relief a third to seal the deal. The team held, the goalies held and the scoring continued with a 5-0 win for Waterloo. These goals were scored by Curtis assisted by Brody and Dawson, Bryce assisted by Colin, Jeremy assisted by Bryce and Colin and finally Dawson with the help of Curtis and Brody. On to the finals!

Another short break and back to the arena to face the Avenue Road Mighty Ducks. From the stands they appeared to be more the size of Tara-dactyls. They were an aggressive team but thankfully toned down their aggression after having two players serve a simultaneous penalty. They had one dominating player and the tendency to shoot far and high. They scored that all important first goal to take the lead. Would our boys fold? Nope. The good luck turtle was rubbed by many in the stands. Go team!  Colin retaliated by putting in our first goal, followed by Xavier in the second and again with the assistance of Tristan. The game went into overtime with a 3-3 score. The collective blood pressure of the Waterloo parents, to coin an old song, was High, High, High! To decide the result, a 3 on 3 overtime ensued. Near misses, and incredible saves, but despite heroic efforts by a very exhausted group of boys, unfortunately, Avenue Road managed to squeeze in the winning goal.A loss? Only on paper.In our eyes, our players and coaches were the true winners with the poise and sportsmanship they demonstrated. Avenue Road trounced every other team, but had to fight tooth and nail to squeeze a final goal in this one. They will not forget us soon; we strongly suspect nightmares have followed.

 Other notables: The players of the various games were Josh, Brody, Braden, Bryce and Xavier. Congratulations to all for your hard work and for being such great ambassadors for our city. +

D.W.