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[Back Row L-R] John Guilderson
(Asst. Coach), Madison Currie, Megan Johnson, Zach Perrin, Nick
McCulley, Matt Smith (Coach), Patrick Quinn, Chris Meyers, David
Johnson (Trainer).
[Middle Row L-R] Colton Smith, Gerry Boutilier, Jake
Guilderson, William Eagles, Liam Matthews
[Front Row] Goalie - Nik Warren
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Sunday, March 19, 2006
(Cole Harbour) The Atom Predators were successful in their
bid to win their second championship banner of the season. The team,
following an exit from the Atom provincials in two close loses to
Westville, wanted to make amends and get back to their winning form.
They traveled to Cole Harbour to participate in the 25th Annual Joe
Lamontagne tournament, one of the largest hockey tournaments in Nova
Scotia. With most players arriving in Halifax on Thursday for a
little March break R&R; tournament play didn’t begin until Friday
with the opening game against the Dartmouth Barracudas. The
Predators forced the play the entire first period and took a quick
5-0 lead and never looked back winning 6-1. Goal scorers were Zack
Perrin (2); Jake Guilderson; Gerry Boutilier; Chris Meyers and
Colton Smith with assists going to Meyers (2) Smith; Guilderson;
Perrin and Nick McCully. The very timely and great saves in the
second and third periods by goaltender Nik Warren earned him the
Parrsboro game MVP.The annual
shootout competition took place at Cole Harbour place on Friday as
well, with each team represented by 3 skaters and a goaltender. The
Atom Predators were well represented by Colton Smith, Nick McCully
and Jake Guilderson and Nik Warren in nets. Each shooter was given 3
penalty shots and they went head-to-head versus a shooter from
another team who was also given 3 penalty shots against the same
goaltender and the shooter with the most goals advanced and the
other shooter was eliminated. After a prolonged time, as many of the
head-to-head competitions that faced Warren as their goalie went
well into sudden death penalty shots as all the shooters found it
very difficult to score on him, it came down to Guilderson in the
finals for the shooters and Warren in the finals for the
goaltenders. Guilderson and his opponent both scored 2 goals apiece
on their first goaltender and then each had to take 3 penalty shots
against Warren. Neither player was able to score on the Predator
goalie, Nik had won the goaltending challenge, now it was just up to
who would put the puck behind him and win the shooting challenge.
With personal pride on the line Warren wasn’t about to allow his
team-mate an easy goal for the win. It wasn’t until Guilderson
scored on his 6th sudden death penalty shot that the puck got behind
Nik… but Jake’s opponent was still left to take his 6th shot, and in
dramatic fashion Warren “stoned him cold” to give Parrsboro both the
goaltending and shooting awards.
The shootout behind them, there was
still one more round robin game to be played on Friday evening. An
evidently tired Parrsboro team squeaked out a 2-1 victory over the
Cole Harbour Bobcats. Guilderson opened the scoring on a super pass
from Nick McCully and Gerry Boutilier notched the game winner
tucking one just in under the crossbar. The tired team, with many
players battling with illness, focused purely on defense and never
really allowed the Bobcats the opportunity to tie the game. Game MVP
honors went to Nick McCully.
Saturday arrived, and a well-rested, healthier Predators team took
to the ice at noon to play the Cole Harbour Black Hawks. The Black
Hawks, one of the stronger Cole Harbour atom teams, were unable to
handle the puck movement by Parrsboro as they played great
positional hockey and passed the puck very well and defeated the
Black Hawks 5-0. Goal scorers for Parrsboro were Smith (2); Madison
Currie; Perrin and McCully. Assists for the game went to Perrin,
Patrick Quinn, Guilderson, Willie Eagles and Boutilier. Nik Warren
with the shutout and Liam Matthews was the Parrsboro game MVP. The
win gave Parrsboro 1st place in their division with a quarterfinal
game later that evening versus the Cole Harbour Canucks.
The Canucks came out to play hard
against the Predators, making reference to the fact that the team
had done so well in the skills competition and in their 3 previous
games. Once again, special teams played a huge part for the
Predators scoring their 3rd shorthanded goal of the tournament and
not allowing a power play goal against. The team played very
discipline hockey in the 3rd period not allowing a quality scoring
opportunity and completely shutting down the Canucks offence. Goal
scorers for Parrsboro were Smith and Boutilier with assists going to
Guilderson (2), Quinn and Currie. The Parrsboro game MVP was Colton
Smith.
With the quarterfinal win under
their belt the team went back to the hotel and enjoyed a pizza party
with the players from the Parrsboro Peewee team (also playing in the
Joe Lamontagne tournament). There were only 3 teams advancing from
the quarter finals and the Atom predators found out that due to the
fact they had the best record of the three teams they received an
automatic berth in the finals and would not have to play in the
semi-finals Sunday at 8:00 AM – instead they would advance right to
the championship game at 12:30.
When they arrived at the rink on
Sunday it was to many players excitement, that they would be playing
the Black Hawks in the finals, a team they had beaten 5-0 in the
round robin. In the pre-game talk the coaches assured the team never
to be over confident and underestimate your opponent, as they would
be seeking amends to their earlier loss to the Predators. Although
not an overly offence game, the Predators capitalized on two chances
and took the game 2-0. The Black Hawks goaltender made several very
good saves to keep his team within striking distance but Parrsboro
goalie Nik Warren was equally up to the challenge and turned away
every shot he faced for his second shutout of the tournament. Goal
scorers for Parrsboro were Smith and Perrin with assists going to
Smith, Perrin and Currie. Championship game MVP went to Colton Smith
and Championship game Defensive MVP went to Liam Matthews.
Overall the tournament was a huge
success for the team. The coaches made note to players that they had
only given up 3 goals in the whole tournament and did not give up a
power play goal. The team as a whole played extremely well
defensively and played their penalty kill perfectly, even scoring
the 3 shorthanded goals. The team looks forward to hanging their
second banner of the year in the Parrsboro Arena rafters. Great job,
well done Predators!! |
