Atom AE Capture Bradford Championship

News Article

Oct 14, 2018 | Bruce Schlitt | 2410 views

Atom AE Capture Bradford Championship

The Guelph Gryphon Atom AE’s completed a perfect 6-0 weekend at the Bradford Blue and Gold Tournament with a nerve racking 1-0 triple overtime victory over the Orangeville Flyers Sunday afternoon to be crowned 2018 Tournament Champions.

The Gryphons saved their best effort of the weekend for the final. Guelph carried the majority of the play during regulation time only to be turned aside time and time again by stellar goaltending from the Orangeville netminder. In the last few moments of the game and throughout overtime it was Guelph’s goalie Max Heroux’s time to shine as he made several acrobatic saves to keep the game scoreless. For his heroic efforts, Heroux was named Guelph’s Player of the Game.

After a 4 on 4 and then 3 on 3 overtime period solved nothing, the teams proceeded to a 2 on 2 overtime period. Late in the period, Orangeville attempted to come out of their zone 2 on 1 only to be stopped cold by “Hack ‘n Whack” Jackson Byard. Byard flipped a shot towards the Orangeville net to a waiting Peyton Smith. Smith patiently waited for the Flyer goalie to drop then sidestepped him and snapped home the tournament winner into the open cage to trigger the celebrations.

It was the first tournament gold medal in their young hockey careers for these 17 ten year olds. Playing shorthanded the final day due to injury and absence, Guelph’s four man defensive unit of Jackson Byard, Cian Duffy, Oliver Fletcher, and Nate Taylor were tough and tireless in helping put up back to back shutouts in the semi final and final games.

Guelph’s Sunday morning semi final was a rematch of their Saturday night round robin game as they once again faced off against the North Durham Warriors. Guelph showed right away that Sunday would be a repeat performance of the Saturday night affair as they jumped on the scoreboard 1:28 into the contest as Milan Wilson banged in a loose puck out in front of the Warrior’s net to give the Gryphs an early 1-0 lead. Guelph added to their lead 1:11 into the second period as Kai Stone danced around the North Durham zone while shorthanded and ripped a wrist shot into the top corner. The score stood 2-0 after two periods of play.

Caleb Davison added some insurance with 4:55 remaining in the game as he slip a shot on goal from the sideboards that tucked itself inside the far post for a 3-0 lead. With 1:43 left, Milan Wilson scored his second of the contest as he ripped a wrist shot home off a pass from Caleb Davison to make the final 4-0.

Fraser Litchfield earned the shutout with several big saves during the contest that was much closer than the score indicted.

On Saturday night, Guelph’s fourth game of the round robin saw the Gryphons clinch 1^st place with an 8-3 victory over the North Durham Warriors. After quickly falling behind 2-0 in the contest, Guelph roared back with five goals in the second period to take control of the game.

Game Summary

First Period

Scoreless

Second Period

0:50 Kenny Beynon (Peyton Smith)
1:42 Nolan Lodder (Kai Stone)
2:08 Peyton Markwood (Milan Wilson)
4:06 Nolan Lodder (Peyton Smith, Cian Duffy)
8:11 Nolan Lodder (Unassisted)

Third Period

2:28 Milan Wilson (Peyton Markwood)
4:19 Connor Laskowki (Nolan Lodder, Kai Stone)
6:13 Kai Stone (Connor Laskowski, Nolan Lodder)

In the Gryphons’ opening game on Saturday, they defeated the Ajax Knights by a score of 9-1. Three quick goals to at the beginning of the second period opened up the game that stood 2-1 at the first intermission.

Game Summary

First Period