Congratulations to our Scotiabank/Bourgeois Nissan Major Novice team on winning the Shamrock Major Novice Tournament this past weekend in Parry Sound!
With this being their first “full ice” tournament together, the boys faced some pretty tough competition. Friday evening started off with an exciting win against the Huntsville Otters with a score of 7-3. The team was ecstatic to open the tournament with such a solid victory.
With a good sleep under their belts, it was rise and shine before the sun for an 8:30am game Saturday against the Parry Sound Shamrocks; a team who we knew would challenge us to the very end based on past performances. It was certainly a nail-biter down to the last second when the Flames took the victory 5-4.
Later in the day, the boys faced Barrie Snowdevils, another tough team. Our coaches tried a few different tactics, allowing opportunities for each player to experience different positional play to further their understanding of team strategy on a full ice surface. With a win of 5-3, the Flames secured their spot in the semi-finals Sunday morning.
Back on the ice at 9am Sunday to face Parry Sound again in the semi-finals. The boys fought hard and managed to secure quite a lead partway through the game, winning 7-2 and moving us on to the championship finals.
At noon we faced the Huntsville Otters again for the final round. Huntsville managed to keep up with us, trailing by only 1 for some time. Luckily the Flames pulled up their hockey socks and took the championship win with a score of 8-5. What an exciting moment for this team, especially since they had never experienced such competition together on such a large piece of ice! The consistent passing and rotating of positions allowed various players to not only score goals, but to further their understanding of offensive/defensive play strategies, forechecking, back checking and a few of the boys even got to take in the view from the penalty box for their first time :)
In the end, their hard work and dedication paid off and furthermore, their positive attitudes and constant display of excellent sportsmanship was praised by tournament staff and opposing coaches. This definitely added to the overall success of our weekend. Well done Penetang Flames Major Novice! You certainly made us hometown proud!!
Submitted by Melissa Dupuis Cundy (Team Manager)