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Parrsboro Midget "B" Predators Stora Enso Tournament Champs
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[Back Row L-R] Greg Mathews
(Trainer), Peter
Brown (Coach), Tyler Fulton, Alex Mathews,
Matt Mills, Drew Dorion, Jon
Wood, Jullian McCulley.
[Middle Row L-R] Tyler Allen, Luke Welton, Ryan Mathews, Brad Wood.
[Front Row] Goalies - Justin Brown and Chris Melanson.
Missing from photo Sebastian Bergeron. |
Sunday, March 12, 2006
(Port Hawkesbury) The Parrsboro Midget B Predators took
home the banner at the 26th annual Stora Enso Invitational Hockey
Tournament here in Port Hawkesbury on Monday evening. The Predators
won the championship game 6-3 over Inverness. Inverness took an
early 1-0 lead in the first period and the score stayed that way
until the end of the 1st. The Predators came out sluggish and
nervous and Inverness took advantage of some sloppy defensive zone
coverage. Goaltender Justin Brown made several key saves to keep his
team in the
game until they found their legs. The second period was a different
story. Team captain Julian McCully scored his first of three goals
early in the second period to even the score. 20 seconds later came
the turning point of the game. Defenseman Alex Matthews shot the
puck in from center ice, the Inverness goaltender stopped the puck,
he then tried to shove the puck into the corner but accidentally put
it into his own net. This seemed to
deflate the Inverness team and gave Parrsboro the break that they
had not been able to get all year long. McCully scored his second
minutes later; then Tyler Allen made it 4-1 and Alex Matthews scored
his second of the period to send his team to the dressing room
with a commanding 5-1 lead. In the third, McCully scored his third
of the game just seconds after Inverness had cut the lead to 5-2.
This put the nail in the coffin for Inverness and Parrsboro rolled
to victory. McCully was named tournament M.V.P. After the game coach
Peter Brown was given the untraditional water bottle shower by his
team." It was a wet drive home".
In the first game of the tournament,
Parrsboro beat North Sydney 4-2. The predators went down 2-0 early
but fought back and held a 3-2 lead heading into the third on goals
by McCulley, Luke Welton, and Tyler Allen. The third period was most
likely the teams best period of hockey all year. After spending an
entire practice working on fore checking they went out and put on a
clinic in the third period keeping the north side team hemmed in
their own end for the entire period McCully scored his second of the
game to seal the victory for his team. Next came Stellarton and
Parrsboro eked out a 3-2 win. Mcculley had 2 goals and Tyler Fulton
broke a 2-2 tie midway through the third period to help give his
team the victory In their final game of the round robin the
Predators had a preview of the final as they met Inverness. In this
game the team just couldn't get going and ended up losing2-1."They
seemed to be more worried about the refereeing and seeing who could
throw the biggest hit, than they were about playing hockey" said
coach Brown, and it cost them the win and almost cost them a spot in
the final. McCully had Parrsboro's only goal. Chris Melanson had a
solid effort in net keeping his team in the game. At the end of
round robin play Parrsboro was tied with Stellarton but won the tie
breaker because they had already beaten them. Heading into the
championship game the team was confident they could come away with
the victory, because they knew that Inverness had not yet seen their
best. Coach Brown said it was a gutsy performance by his team
throughout the entire tournament. "We only have 11 skaters, one boy
went home after the first day, too sick to play, leaving us with 10
skaters and half of them sick with colds. We had one boy throwing up
before a game and putting the gear on after the first period and
coming out to play." Although they won Brown still feels he is yet
to see his teams best, "I don't think they know how good they can
be, hopefully after this they will start to realize". The Predators
have one tournament left in Tatamagouche at the end of the month and
will be going in with one goal in mind, and that is gold. |
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