The PEEWEE AE STARS took some sweet revenge winning the Quarter-Finals series against the Merritton Bulldogs in 4 games; 3 wins and 1 tie. The STARS TEAM put on quite a great showing in the series, and gave their fans a lot of excitement in the fast paced battles. Merritton gave it their all, which made a great series matchup between the two teams.
GAME 1 – 7-1 WIN for the PEEWEE AE STARS
Even though the scoreboard didn’t show it; it was a close game on the ice with great back and forth plays between the teams. The STARS came out with the huge opening game win with fantastic goal presence of Matt Beckwith with a strong defense core in front of him. Matt had a great evening between the pipes and flashed the leather to smother or kick away the pucks. Caden Beshara, David DaCosta, Ash O’Connor, Sam Graham and Noah Allen just dominated the defensive end. Whenever the Bulldogs came into the STARS end, they were only there for seconds before the puck was taken away and the play sent back the other way.
The STARS also controlled the play in the offensive end for most of the game, where the forwards blasted puck after puck at the Merritton goalie. Zach “Zachmoe” Banks lead the team with 2 goals and 2 assists on the night. One of his goals scored was skating in hard over the blue line and just firing the puck to the top corner of the net. Cameron Douglas was up to his old tricks in front of the Bulldogs net where he was left to bang away and land more goals for the STARS. Joey Hardy and Noah Dos Santos were right there with Cam setting up the plays at the net and getting the assists. Jake Gillis had a great evening of flying around on the ice and creating opportunities as well as getting 2 assists. Denys Reid flew down the wing getting the cross ice pass and wristed another in for the TEAM. Ryan Payne was just on fire during the evening battling hard for puck control. He won a battle for the puck at the side of the net and grabbed another goal for the STARS and assisted on Denys goal. Sam Hardy hit the back of the net to end the game with the STARS up by 6 goals as Sam did some great spinning moves by the net and wristed the puck into the net.
GAME 2 – 6-3 WIN for the PEEWEE AE STARS
What a great game for the fans. Both TEAMS came out with fire and passion to win. Chris “Woody” Wood controlled the STARS end in net. Merritton did not going away empty handed in this game and kept coming and coming at Woody. He made some amazing saves, one in which he slid from post to post blocking each side of the net stopping the Bulldogs momentum. Again the defense did a great job of winning the battles for puck control along the boards and in the corners. This game also had more of a physical presence to it where every battle for the puck had to be won. Leading the STARS in this game and getting the game winning goal was Cameron Douglas with 2 goals and 2 assists. Cameron just keeps battling for the puck and battles until either it’s in the net or the refs’ calls the play. Joey Hardy got 2 goals and an assist on the day. Both goals with the assist of the defense as one was with a pass from Noah Allen and another from Sam Graham as they shot from the blue line and Joey snagged the pass and snapped it in. Noah Dos Santos got an assist and a goal. Noah D’s goal came from a pass down the wing from Caden Beshara who beat his opposition to the puck and sent Noah springing to the net.
GAME 3 – 2-2 TIE after 3 periods and a grueling OT period
Merritton Bulldogs came out hungry and desperate to stay in the series and applied the early pressure. Both goal tenders were a bit shaky at the beginning of the game, but at the same time both settled into the game and made save after save. Chris Wood had some stellar pad saves and trapped pucks in his chest that were destined to be in the net. Besides the Bulldog’s goalie playing his best game of the series, there must have been a force field around their net as the STARS had many chances from Sam Hardy, Noah Dos Santos, Carson Nurse, Ryan Payne and Denys Reid could just not put that small puck into the net. There was a great battle of wills on the ice with the play going from one end to the other. Caden Beshara gave a lot of spark to the STARS TEAM in the game as he wrestled the puck away from the offense in our end, broke around them and then worked his way around there defense to get the shot off at the Merritton net. The STARS trailed two times in the game and came back to keep it tied up. Getting the STARS to the board, with a lot of patience Joey Hardy came out from behind the net and found the five hole of the goalie and slid the puck through to the back. Zach Banks tied the game up at 2 apiece as he worked the side of the net and then found the goalie going out of position and found the opening that was given up. The PEEWEE AE STARS TEAM did a great job of passing the puck around and creating chances to finish the series, but the Bulldogs just would not give up. The fans were just so tense and wrapped up in the game wanting to see the win as the STARS tried to capitalize in the last 2 minutes of the overtime period with a 5-3 man advantage but again the Bulldog’s goalie was the difference in this game.
GAME 4 - 4-2 WIN for the PEEWEE AE STARS
Both teams came out to win this game, but it was the STARS who really applied the pressure in both the offensive and defensive play. Matt Beckwith again came up with the crucial game saving moments as Merritton tried to get to the scoreboard first. But it was Noah Dos Santos on a fluttering slap shot from the blue line that just arched over the goalie and tumbled into the net to get the STARS a first period lead. The STARS continued the dominance of play and extended their lead as Ash O’Connor blasted a puck from the line and Joey Hardy got his stick on it and tipped it in. Then as the puck was in neutral ice and the Merritton player misplayed it and lost it to Zach Banks who weaved around him and found another opening in the net. The Bulldogs however would not die quietly and after a brief time out to start the third period came back with two goals of their own to make the score 3-2 and give Merritton just a little bit of a pulse left in the body. With a huge scramble in front of the Bulldogs net and passes going back and forth between Noah Dos Santos and Cameron Douglas; Cam managed to whack the puck down low into the back of the net.
Every STARS TEAM PLAYER really stepped up their play in this game and gave it their all to end this series to go on to the OMHA SEMI FINALS.
CONGRATS: Matt, David, Noah A, Jake, Noah D, Ryan, Sam G, Cameron, Sam H, Zach, Joey, Chris, Carson, Caden, Denys, Ash – and Josh (we really miss you on the ice – thank you for cheering us on)
GREAT TEAM EFFORT BOYS!!!!
THE STARS FANS ARE REALLY PROUD OF YOU!!!!!
GO STARS!!!