Nov 22, 2013 | Rob Waywell | 736 views
Vaughan Tournament Summary
From our Team Correspondent Curtis:
Good evening folks and welcome to Sports Desk. Tonight we have a lot of action to cover. The boys from Waterloo were on the road this weekend to play against some good strong teams in the Toronto area. Vaughan, actually. It turns out that Vaughan not only produces some popular retail streetscapes, but some fine hockey players too. The City of Vaughan is also home to Linda Jackson. Never heard of her? That's right. She's the mayor, not the jolly guy down the street.
Game 1
The Wolves of Waterloo took to the ice at the Sports Village to play their first qualifying game against the Vaughan Rangers (blue). Emmett had the start between the pipes and Grant sported the "C" on his jersey. The puck dropped at 4:15 and the Wolves quickly took charge as Josh drew first blood at 6:42 to take a 1 - 0 lead. A minute later Spencer fired off a shot that is saved on the blocker side. At 2:33 Vaughan goes on a dangerous breakaway, the shot, and Clang! The puck bounces off the inside of the post, and the Vaughan fans prematurely start to celebrate. It's still 1- 0 Waterloo by the end of the period.
The second period starts off with Waterloo taking control. Curtis drives toward the net, he gets edged to the wing, he takes a shot while falling backward, and saved by the Vaughan goalie. A couple of minutes later Casey B fires off a powerful wrist shot, but it too gets saved. At 4:51 Vaughan goes on the offensive. They plough through the Waterloo defenses, a shot, saved by Emmett and the puck goes high into the air. On the next whistle Waterloo does the mid-game goalie switch and Alex takes his turn in net. Vaughan comes at Waterloo strong. They take a shot, Alex makes the pad save, the rebound pops out, and a Vaughan player is there to slap it in to make it a 1 - 1 game. Unfortunately for Waterloo, Vaughan manages to bang in 2 more quick goals to make it a 3 - 1 game for Vaughan by the end of the second period. Waterloo isn't taking it lying down though, as shown by Ben's bullet of a wrist shot from the point near the end of the period.
The third period was exciting to watch, but Waterloo couldn't get anymore goals despite a hard effort and some promising plays. Early in the period Casey B passes from behind the net to Spencer, but he can't quite get enough of the puck. Soon after, Colin takes a hard shot but the hot Vaughan goalie won't let anything in. As the period winds down, Vaughan gets another goal but Waterloo still won't let up. Dion and Casey H give everything they have to clear the puck, and Xavier, Jacob, and Carter put together some strong offensive plays that would have worked against a slightly less organized team. Good job by Waterloo, but they go into the second game with a bit of a hold to dig out of.Game 2 wasn't until 1pm the next day, so the boys had lots of time to do their homework, make dinner for orphans, help the elderly cross the street, and go to bed early after a quiet evening.
Game 2
With only 3 qualifying games in the tournament, every game for Waterloo is now must-win. This time they played against Caledon in the Maple Arena. The arena was pretty tight for the fans but at least the arena can afford to turn on the heaters, which is apparently not the case in the Wolves' home rink of Albert East.Alex takes the start between the pipes and makes 2 quick saves in the first minute. Waterloo gets a few shots, one by Casey B and another by Carter, but no red light. Josh, Peter, and Curtis push to the net, a scramble out front, an open net, but Ohhh! they can't quite capitalize on it. Later in the period, Caledon goes on a dangerous odd-man rush, but they go offside. Soon after, Alex makes a massive glove save to keep the score at zero. With a minute to go Zach wins the drag race in a great defensive move and slaps the puck away from the Caledon offence. With only 4 seconds to go, Caledon screens Alex and pops one in to take a 1 - 0 lead.
In the second period, Casey B and Spencer are at the Caledon net, Spencer passes to Casey, he swings around the net from behind and GOAL! Waterloo ties it at one. Halfway through the period Carter is behind the Caledon net, passes out front to Xavier, the shot, and another goal! Now Waterloo takes the lead. Later in the period, Jacob has the puck, makes the deek, takes a peek, another deek, and he scores in the top corner on the long side. A highlight reel goal for sure. Emmett's in net now, and with a minute to go a Caledon shot slips through the 5-hole to make a 3 -2 Waterloo game at the end of the second.
Now for the third period. Early on Caledon passes the puck from behind the net to tap-in a nice-looking one-timer. Now it's tied at 3. With 6:48 to go, Dion passes up to Xavier, Xavier drives hard toward the net, he fires off a bullet of a wrist shot that's all net! Another highlight reel of a goal, and Waterloo takes a 4 - 3 lead, which is how the game will end. There was still plenty of great hockey action in the period, and the fans sure got their money's worth.
Game 3
Now for the third game of the qualifying round. Waterloo has a win and a loss, and needs to beat the North York Rangers to advance to the next round. The game started a half hour late, and the fans were getting a little jittery. Some had already checked-out of their hotel rooms. Was it the right choice? If the boys win this one they will move on to the next round; if not, it will be a quiet drive back to Waterloo in the dark.The Zamboni driver likes to lay the water on nice and thick, and it looks like it was causing some problems as the players were falling down left and right all throughout the first period. This time the there will be a change with the Waterloo goalies: Emmett is going to play the entire game and Alex to play the next one.At 8:16 still to go in the first, Ben gets the first shot of the game but is saved by a hot North York goalie. But not to be outdone, Emmett was peppered with shots throughout the game, and made some dandy saves, eventually earning him the Player of the Game helmet. The boys are really playing well here and have a lot of scoring chances. At 4:12, Jacob, Carter, and Xavier put together a strong forward play, Xavier with a shot, but saved. Two minutes later Curtis goes hard, but his shot also gets saved.
Early in the second period, Curtis passes from behind the net to Peter, Peter takes a shot, but another save. The boys carry themselves through the period with some great plays, but they can't seem to get on the board. North York just kept pounding them with some aggressive breakouts and they are good at winning the drag races to the puck.
In the third period we see Casey H disrupting another odd-man rush to the Waterloo end, effectively shutting down a scoring opportunity. Soon after, Dion makes a slick glove catch, passes it to Josh, Josh deeks around a few players, but gets shut down. At 8:51, there's a scramble in the Waterloo end, Emmett is screened, a shot, bounces of a player, and goes in. North York takes a 1 - 0 lead. Waterloo keeps up the pressure. Ben goes long, shoots high, but gets saved. With 2 minutes to go North York gets a 4 minute penalty. With Waterloo on a power play they go for it, but can't tie it up.
The game ends at 1 - 0, and Waterloo goes home. The boys played very well, and will have other chances later in the season.