Sunday, January 21, 2007
(Parrsboro) The Parrsboro Peewee “A” Predators had a
successful weekend in hosting the 8th annual Harrisons’ Home
Hardware Minor Hockey Tournament. The Predators, along with the
Debert Cobras, Truro Bearcats and Cumberland Devils provided the
spectators with great hockey and lots of excitement. All the games
were close and a few breaks either way could have changed the
outcomes.The predators opened
their tournament with a game against the Debert Cobras on Saturday
at noon. The game was very close throughout with Debert opening up a
2-0 lead after the first two periods of play. In true Predator
fashion the team came out hard in the third, and at just 0:36 of the
third Andrew Rafuse started the comeback with the Predators first
goal of the tournament with assists going to Kevin Wood and Jake
Guilderson. The team tied the game on Ryan Quinn’s’ goal at 5:05 and
Ryan then followed with the go ahead goal 9 seconds later to
complete the comeback. Assists on the 2 goals went to Nick McCully
and Freddie Johnson. The Predators played strong defense the
remainder of the game to hold on for the win. Game MVP honors went
to Freddie Johnson and Nick McCully.
In their second game of the day the
Peewee boys were going to face the Truro Bearcats, a team that we
haven’t won against this year. The Bearcats were playing their
second game of a back-to-back after choosing not to play Friday
night due to poor travel conditions. The Predators got behind early
as Truro scored just 1:36 into the game. Parrsboro finally got on
the board at the 7-minute mark of the second when Ryan Quinn scored
with assists going to Nick McCully and Jerry Boutilier. The two
teams played very defensive hockey the rest of the way until Freddie
Johnson notched the game winner at the 8:28 mark of the third with
Kevin Wood picking up another assist. The Game MVP honors went to
Ryan Quinn and Jake Guilderson.
Sunday morning, with a 2 wins and 0
losses record, the Predators had to play the Cumberland Devils, a
team with which Parrsboro has had a close rivalry with this year.
The Devils knew that if they beat Parrsboro they would advance to
the finals against Truro. Truro finished the round robin with a 2-1
record but had a +6 plus/minus, which would have been better than
both Parrsboros’ and Cumberland’s. The Predators needed a tie or a
win against Cumberland to advance to the finals. In what seemed
inevitable, the Cumberland team scored first and the Parrsboro team
was down 1-0 late in the first period. The second period was all
defense as neither team scored. The entire team was on pins and
needles until the 5:10 mark of the third when Ryan Quinn scored the
tying goal assisted from Colton Smith. Needing a win, Cumberland
pulled their goalie in favor of an extra attacker late in the third
but it backfired as Quinn hit the open net from center ice with less
than a minute left in the game to send the Peewee “A” Predators to
the finals. Freddie Johnson assisted on the goal. Game MVP honors
went to Zack Perrin and Nic Warren.
The Parrsboro squad was excited to
participate in the Championship Game versus Truro, they had a great
close game in the round robin, but no one expected what the finals
would bring!! In the broken record storyline Parrsboro found
themselves down 3-0 after the first period, a huge task to battle
back from considering Truro was such a strong Peewee “A” team. But
the Parrsboro players weren’t to be outdone in their home rink and
scored 2 late goals in the second period to make the score 3-2 going
into the third. Ryan Quinn with both goals and assists going to
Colton Smith, Alex Harrison and Jerry Boutilier. Quinn capped off
the natural hat trick scoring the tying goal at 5:25 of the third
with assists going to Kevin Wood and goalie Nic Warren. But the tie
was short lived as Truro regained the lead less than a minute later.
With a never quit attitude, the Predators got the puck deep into the
Bearcats end and pulled the goalie with under a minute left and the
move paid off as Freddie Johnson scored the tying goal at 0:40
assisted by Kevin Wood and Zack Perrin. In the Championship game
there is overtime, and the teams play 5-5 for 1 minute, then 4-4 for
1 minute, then 3-3 for 1 minute and finally 2-2 until someone
scores. The overtime proved to be true excitement of end-to-end
hockey as both teams had good scoring chances with both goaltenders
making greater saves. End to end hockey quickly took its toll on the
players on the ice as fatigue set in and the players were taking
20-25 second shifts and wanting off the ice. Each team had a couple
of chances on the 5 on 5, 4 on 4 and 3 on 3, but the true excitement
came in the 2 on 2. For every fan of hockey in the rink it was truly
a game worth watching, a game to remember, for the players it was an
experience of a lifetime. Truro finally netted the game winner 6
minutes into the 2 on 2 and won the 8th annual Harrisons’ Minor
Hockey Tournament. Game MVP honors for Parrsboro went to Andrew
Rafuse and Kevin Wood. To add a nice touch of class, some of the
Truro players came to the Predators dressing room after the game to
say thanks for a fun tournament and that they enjoyed the friendly
competition, there were only 2 minor penalties for the teams in the
2 games they played.
Overall the tournament was a success
for the Parrsboro team as they played very well and it should serve
as boost of confidence as they head into Provincial play downs this
week.
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