Novice Select Semifinalist in St. Thomas Tourney
Submitted By mvaldez on Saturday, March 05, 2011
It was a successful run by the Novice Select Stars in the St. Thomas Select Tournament. In spite of the 5-3 loss in the first game against the Niagara Falls Canucks, the Stars were able to rescue 1 point mainly due to the natural hat trick by #2 Kyle Wiebe, who scored a goal in each period. Niagara won the first period 3-1 but the second and third periods were tied 1 goal a piece to earn the Stars half a point from each. This point would prove to be decisive in obtaining the ticket to the semifinal later. #5 Ethan Hawes, #11 Jared Parkin and #17 Cameron Solomway each recorded an assist in this game.
The Stars fought the second game hard against the Brantford Saints. Right from puck drop, our forwards kept the game at their net and they were able to get the first goal past the half mark of the first period by the hands of #11 Jared Parkin. This was the only goal of the period, which earned one more point for our team. In the second period, Brantford got their second wind and came hard to our net. Their efforts were rewarded quickly and they went ahead in the score with two early goals in the period. St, Thomas was able to respond with a goal of their own thanks to a nice shot by #18 Ethan Bradley but the Saints scored another late in the period to go ahead once more. The third period was back and forth with both goalies doing a great job keeping the puck out of their nets, until #10 Nathan Carmichael came up with some magic to tie the game with 4 minutes to go in the match. The lonely goal in the third period, earned St. Thomas one more point that was added to the tie point for a total of 4 points in the tournament.
St. Thomas needed a win or a tie in the third game to secure a ticket to the semifinal on their own terms but were not able to respond to the fast pace put out by the Peterborough Stars who ended up taking the game and all the points available in it. However, St Thomas received a generous gift by the Ilderton Jets who blanked the Niagara Falls Canucks to put them in the bottom of the “A” pool and out of the tournament. This allowed St. Thomas to squeeze by to the semifinal where they faced no other than the Ilderton Jets. The Jets prove to be a tough team and they took the game in their way to winning the championship of the Novice division defeating the Peterborough Stars in the final.
