Feb 05, 2017 | Bruce Schlitt | 672 views
Novice Selects Finalists at Bradford Blue and Gold Tourney
The Guelph Gryphon Novice Selects traveled to the Nottawasaga Resort on Friday February 3 to compete in the Bradford Blue and Gold Tourney and two days and five games later, traveled home with silver medals after dropping a nail biting 2-0 decision to the Cumberland Dukes in the Championship Game.
The Gryphons started off the tournament by dropping a 6-3 decision to the Oakville Black Aces. While the score was not an indication of how the Gryphs carried the play, it was also a scrambly game and the Gryphon's least intense of the weekend. Oakville got on the board just 2:05 into the game but with 3:43 left in the opening frame, Conner Laskowski jammed in a loose puck in a scramble out front and tied up the score. Declan O'Hearn assisted on the play. Oakville slid home another goal just one minute later and the score stood 2-1 in favour of Oakville after one period of play. Oakville scored the only goal of the second period with just a minute left on the clock and the score was 3-1 after two periods of play. Two quick goals in the third stretched the lead to 5-1 before hard work in the corner from Conner Laskowski allowed him to drive the net and snap home his second goal of the game. Tanner Johnson assisted on the play. Oakville scored just a minute later to make it 6-2 before Nicholas Tyas snapped home a Brayden Tomei rebound with 49 seconds remaining to make the final 6-3. Conner Laskowski was named MVP for his tireless work ethic and two goal performance.
In the Gryphons second game of the day, they faced off against the London Bandits. London is an Alliance Tier 1 Rep team that normally competes against our Novice AA squad. While there was little doubt as to who the superior team was as the 15-0 score indicated, this game was a real turning point for the Guelph squad. No matter how lopsided the score quickly became, the Gryphons would not stop working and never quit. It was a eye opening experience for the the Gryphons to see how well the game can be played by kids at the rep level and the Bandits forced the Gryphons to play at a quicker pace. These turned out to be lessons learned that paid off during the rest of the weekend. Vid Peteranac was Guelph's MVP for the game with his strong physical play on the blueline and his offensive rushes.
The Gryphons last round robin game on Saturday was against the previously undefeated Cumberland Dukes. Inspired by a deafening cheering section that energized the Gryphons with their noise makers and chanting the entire game, the Gryphons turned in by far their best effort of the season. Equally inspiring for the Gryphons was the dominant performance by Jo Jo "Big Train" Piccone who led the Gryphons to victory with a hat trick and strong physical play in the corners. The Gryphons came out on fire and exactly one minute in, Milan Wilson danced his way in front with some slick stickhandling and soared a backhander that landed in the top corner of the net for a 1-0 Guelph lead. The Gryphs increased their lead just 25 seconds later while on the powerplay when Peter Schlitt directed a shot on net from the point that was redirected in front and landed on the stick of Joseph Piccone who calmly spanked it in to the open net. Cumberland stormed back with two goals of their own towards the end of the frame and the score stood 2-2 after one period of play. 1:40 into the second, Piccone put Guelph back in the lead when he walked out of corner fighting off two Cumberland defenders and lazered a wrist shot into the back of the net. Nathan Bowman and Vid Peteranac drew assists on the play. Cumberland tied the score once again with just 26 seconds left in the period but 11 seconds later, Nathan Bowman stormed down the ice and Piccone followed behind to slam home Bowman's rebound to give Guelph a 4-3 lead at the end of two periods of play. Cumberland appeared to tie the game once again when a rebound landed on Cumberland forward's stick who slid the puck into the open net only to have defenceman Peter Schlitt dive across and slide on his belly and push the puck harmlessly into the corner. With 5:36 left in the game, Jackson Byard turned aside a Cumberland rush at centre ice and picked up the puck for a beautiful solo rush of his own that culminated with him sliding the puck into the far corner of the net for the 5-3 Guelph lead. Cumberland scored a late goal with 11 seconds left but the final score stood 5-4 in favor of the Gryphs.
Guelph's 1-2 Round Robin record placed them in the Select semi finals Sunday morning against the Oakville Black Aces. Guelph was put to the test early when they found themselves down two men for a full two minutes just 1:53 into the game. However, Conner Laskowski was dominant on the penalty kill, not allowing Oakville to cross center ice. The strong penalty kill inspired the team along with the raucous crowd and with 5:44 left in the period, Tanner Johnson maneuvered down the ice and snapped home a wrist shot to give the Gryphs a 1-0 lead. Nicholas Tyas assisted on the play. The first period ended with Guelph leading 1-0. 3:49 into the second frame, Nicholas Tyas scooped up a loose puck in the neutral ice and raced down the right side and blasted a wrist shot over the goalie's glove for 2-0 lead. Just 22 seconds later, Declan O'Hearn drove a shot on net that Nathan Bowman deflected past the Oakville netminder for a 3-0 lead. Two minutes later Oakville got on the scoreboard but with 2:18 left in the period, Nathan Bowman outskated the Black Aces team and roofed a shot from a nearly impossible angle to give Guelph a 4-1 lead after two periods. 3:41 into the third, Vid Peteranac directed a shot on net and Liam Bendo out hustled everyone to the rebound and slid the puck into an open net. With 2:47 left, a Nathan Bowman shot was stopped but Declan O' Hearn was left in front and from his knees he deked the Oakville goalie and backhanded the puck home for a 6-1 lead. Oakville added a late goal in the final minute but the final buzzer sounded with the Gryphs skating off with a 6-2 victory and their ticket punched to the Championship Game. Nathan Bowman, who was an offensive threat and a tireless backchecker, was named game MVP.
The tournament final saw the Gryphs face off against the well rested Cumberland Dukes who had received a bye to the final based on their 2-1 round robin record. The final was an intense, hard checking game that saw two evenly matched teams leaving it all on the ice. An intense first period concluded with the score at 0-0. The 0-0 game continued thru two periods of play. Finally, after several minutes of Guelph trying to hold back countless Cumberland attacks, the Dukes slipped home a rebound with 7:19 left in the game. The Gryphs never gave up, but Cumberland smelled blood and kept pouring it on and with just over three minutes left, added an insurance goal on route to a 2-0 championship victory. Goaltender Max Heroux was named game MVP for his strong play between the pipes.
Overall, it was a superb weekend for the Gryphs as they look forward to their remaining exhibition games over the next two months before their year end tournament in Barrie at the beginning of April.