Mar 13, 2012 | dskinner | 2390 views
WASTE MANAGEMENT PEEWEES FINISH STRONG!
Moving from 6 wins last season to 17 wins this season, moving up in the provincial ranking and in the league standings, reaching it to play offs in two tournaments, and sweeping an opponent this season really shows the improvement this team made this season!
At the start of the season the team set goals and achieved each one of them, delighting fans along the way with their continued dedication, determination and strength as a team both on and off the ice.
Facing the SCTA qualifiers over the first weekend in March meant facing some familiar rivals and the Highlanders did not disappoint. With the team captain and top scorer Jacob Lee on the injured list, and forward Eric Charlebois also out with a broken bone, the team was stepping out shorthanded, and would have to raise their game this weekend.
The team jumped out strong in the first game against the always powerful Brampton squad, the peewees held their own in the first period holding the score to 2-1. Highlander goal came unassisted from Brady Coburn. The final was 4-1.
The second game that afternoon was a face off against Niagara Falls. Here the boys did not disappoint and walked away with a solid 7-4 win. Goals in the first period were plentiful with Mike Fiegehen leading the charge with the set up coming from Dalton Black and Brady Coburn. Next to hit the score sheet was Troy Weber with the assist coming from Fiegehen. Mitchell Newson followed that with another beauty with the set up coming from Black and Noah Sollinger. The final goal in the first period came from Brady Coburn assisted by Sollinger (again!). In the second period Fiegehen put two more goals in the net for his hat trick and these were assisted by Coburn (2) and Black (1). That’s a-lota goals...but the Highlanders were not done! The sole goal in the third came from Weber with the assists coming from defensemen Brady Thompson and forward Will Rickerby.
So the team finished the day strong and were off to celebrate with a team dinner and early curfew (of course!).
Day two of the tournament was against the rival Guelph squad. To date the Highlanders had swept this team with wins all season. Between the pipes this morning was Tyler Atkinson. This guy covers a lot of the net...even when he is standing still. But he was not standing still and the Guelph team struggled to get goals past him and in the end the Highlanders won 4-3. Defenseman Quinton Maddock who has lead the team in hits this season, was on fire and a force this game.
Starting things off for the Highlanders was a goal from Mitchell Newson off a pass from Weber. In the second the team put two points on the board with another goal this tournament from Coburn assisted by Weber and Feigehen who were making a habit of showing up on the score sheet this tournament. The next goal came from Black assisted by Noah Johnson and defensemen Danny Skinner. Black was on the game sheet more this tournament than we had seen all season. He was on fire and filling the void left by Lee!!! In the third the winner was scored by Johnson assisted by Black and defensemen Josh Urbshott. Urbshott has been has been solid all season for the Highlanders with 86 hits and 44 shots in regular season play.
The win set things up for an exciting afternoon. The team would play Oakville, a talented and top ranked team, but the Highlanders were confident in their performance so far. Going in with two wins, the winner of this game would move on to the semi-finals the next day. Jack Armstrong was given the nod to tend the net this game. He has delivered 583 saves in regular season play, the team would need a few more from him this game. Supporting him on D were Dylan Reeves and Logan Swanton who Armstrong would rely on this game.
The Highlanders fought hard and played a good game, but the strength and “do or die” situation facing Oakville proved too much and the team fell 7-1. The lone goal came from the top scorer of the tournament Mike Fieghehen with a pass from Black. Bradyn Thompson was an asset on defense as he was all season for the Highlanders. Will Rickerby lead the team this year in take-aways, almost double any other player, and delivered this game too.
It’s not just one game, one goal, one take away or one save that makes the season, it is the accumulation of the 61 games, 17 wins, over 1250 shots, over 1270 hits, and all the moves, deaks, passes, pats on the back, practices, and injuries along the way that sums up a season! This team can walk away from a season that saw them achieve every goal they set out to concur at the start of the season. They climbed the ladder!