Atom Girls Take Road Trip to Woodstock Tourney
WOW! The 14th Annual Woodstock Wildcats Girls Tournament was a good time! The Atom Girls team travelled to the Plattsville arena on a very early snowy Friday morning to be on the ice at 8:00 am for
Game 1 against the London Devilettes.
It sure was different going upstairs to the change rooms and marching single file down the rubberized stairs to go to the ice pad. The Devilettes got an early first goal in period one by getting the rebound off of Justice's pad and getting it past her. Despite this, our girls regrouped and started an offensive effort which got us our first goal by Maddie rushing against 3 Devilettes! This was followed by Jet's goal, getting the 2nd goal. At this point, we were leading, but the Devilettes got a little more aggressive. Early in period three, they stormed our net and got one. Then, they shot something sneaky from the circle which just had enough angle to get in between Justice and her far right post. Our Ice Dogs rushed forward several times against the tiring Devilettes, firing away to get some really nice shots on their goalie. It wasn't to be, however, as their goalie was determined to glovestop just about everything!
Game 2 started at 11:00 am and the BCH girls were freshened up a bit from having some breakfast food from the local restaurants. They were ready to try again facing up against the Belmont Blazers. This game was very evenly matched, with a lot of back and forth, even action. Finally, at the end of period one, Maddie shot a good slider to get the game on the board, 1-0 for us. Justice did some wonderful gloving and coverup diving of her own to stop the Blazers from doing damage. Period 2 was more of the same: back and forth action. Then, at the end of the second our defense got caught with some Blazer girls behind them rushing the puck toward Justice. This resulted in a 1-1 tie at the end this period. Period three was exciting to watch because both teams were hungry for a goal. Savannah rushed back and stopped some Blazers from scoring. Taylor got a good rush on the Belmont goalie who, to her credit, stopped her shot and a lot of our other attempts! Several of our BCH girls were making her work hard! The game ended in a 1-1 tie and we went home to rest up for next game.
Game 3 was at 1:00 pm the next day at the Woodstock Civic arena against the Woodstock Wildcats. The girls got ready with some upbeat music (thanks for taking the tunes along!). Early in the first, the Wildcats earned their first goal with a nicely set up pass from a winger to the girl planted in front of Justice. This goal must have fired up our team a bit because we saw some good action in the opposing end for quite a while! We must have had about 5-8 shots on their goalie. Breakaway rushes were causing the crowds to really pay attention when Justice stopped the Wildcats from getting one, and then Laura and Jet's breakaways almost got us some quick goals. But the Wildcat goalie was equally determined! Period 2 began with Joleen getting a nice shot which ricocheted off a skate (I think!) and trickled in like slow motion into the Wildcat net. Then, Savannah showed some good skill by carrying the puck all the way from our end to their end, shooting, then catching her rebound for a second shot which got into the net. Way to work, Savannah! At this point, we were leading 2-1 and getting all fired up for more. Then, during a scrum against the Wildcat net, Leah shot a really short shot which got behind the goalie's back, making it 3-1 for us. Even though we got a penalty, BCH showed determination to guard our well earned lead against the Wildcats. We held 'em off our backs with solid work and no giving up! One more Wildcat scrum in front of our net resulted in one more goal for them, making it 3-2 for us. Thanks to Justice dropping down for two huge saves, we kept our lead intact for the final 44 seconds which were spent largely in the opposing endzone trying to get one more goal. What a way to finish! All the girls provided good performances! Our coaches gave us huge pats on the back! We earned our third place "bronze" and went home happy!
