Bryon Optimist Tournament
The boys travelled to London this past weekend for the last tournament of the year. Many strong teams were in the tournament so the Wolves needed to bring the "A" game to make it into the semi-finals on Sunday.
Game 1 was played against a rival Tier 2 team in Hamilton White and was a very hard fought game by both teams. Some great passing and strong defensive play was the difference that saw a final of 3-2 in favour of the Wolves. Mathews took home the hardest worker.
Later that afternoon the boys had a game against a Tier 1 opponent in the Brantford 99ers. The game was fast paced with little time and space to move the puck. In the end the 99ers had the edge and took the game with a 3-0 win including an empty net goal. Johnstone was the hardest work for this game.
Game 3 was a game that the boys have waited for. The West London Hawks have had the Wolves number all season long and it was the the boys turn to shine. After going down 1-0 early, the Wolves came back with 5 goals in a row before West London got one back late. A very convincing 5-2 win which was well deserved. Thomas was named the hardest worker.
Game 4 matched up against Stratford Warriors at prime time Saturday night. The Wolves put on a passing clinic all game long by putting up over 100 passes in the game. Lots of zone time proved to much as a number of players scored. Young also took home a hat trick puck on a beautiful one time shot set up by Waters, who took home the hardest worked.
The 3-1 record was enough for a date with the first ranked Hamilton Red on Sunday morning. The Wolves stayed with their game and played strong defensively and passed the puck really well. In fact they likely had more than 2/3 of the zone time for the whole game and killed a 5 on 3 for over a minute. Early in the 3rd Hamilton got a lucky bounce and scored to take the 1-0 lead. The boys didn't quit and managed to tie it up by putting a low shot in 5 hole. In dramatic fashion, Proulx took a short handed pass from Babansee on a breakaway and deked out the hot Hamilton goalie for the go ahead goal with 3:30 to go in the game. The Wolves shut down the game and didn't Hamilton any time as they pulled thier goalie for the equalizer.
The final game was the furtherest the Wolves had made it this year in any tournament and the boys were pumped. The game was a rematch of game 2 against Brantford. Again the game was very quick and very similar to the first match. In the end the 99ers were the better team and took the game 4-1. The boys held their heads high as they had much to be proud of with the way the played on and off the ice.
In an act of pure class and sportsmanship, the Wolves team skated over to the 99ers door to their dressing room and created a team stick arch as an exit tunnel for the champions to skate through to leave the ice. The news event even made it to the Alliance web page and can be found here.
http://alliancehockey.com/Articles/3483/Waterloo_Wolves_Black_Atom_MD_Show_Amazing_Display_of_Sportsmanship_/
Well done Wolves and good luck with the rest of the Playoffs.