Jan 22, 2013 | Jason Timmermans | 701 views
Motown Champions
The weekend of January 18-20, 2013 proved to be another successful weekend for the Atom Gold Cougars. After 5 great games and a lot of swimming and team bonding the boys walked away with some more hardware to add to their collection. We were able to finish the tournament with all the players still on the ice and all of the coaches still on the bench... In the final game the boys beat the Chicago Hawks by a score of 3-1.
We headed down to the Detroit area for our first game on Friday. We were at the University of Michigan Dearborn campus facing the Knights. The Knights came out and scored the first goal but the boys played hard and at the end of the first game we ended up winning 3-2. Darius scored a hat trick but had strong support from Tim and Robert. After the first game the boys were given a tour of the Wolves dressing room and had very clear instructions not to step on the M in the middle of the room. I think the comment made by the coach giving us the tour fired the boys up. He asked who won he World Juniors this year.
Our next game was against the Cowboys. The boys continue where they left off and played another strong game. The defence of Liam, Cary, Jacob and Memphis really stepped it up and didn't allow many good scoring chances. Our offence again was going out and creating many scoring opportunities. Kristian, Aidan and Noah had a strong game. At the end of the game it was another win with a score of 3-1.
After the game the kids went back to the hotel for some swimming before an early bed time to get ready for Saturday.
Saturday morning arrived and we were facing the Chicago Hawks. We started off strong and after a hard shot by Kole the rebound was put in the net by Darius. The boys kept playing hard but the Hawks were playing just as hard. A couple of bounces and a couple of rebounds and the Hawks beat us 3-1. That was just our second loss of the season. The boys kept their heads up and were preparing for the next game.
Our final round robin game was against the Mentors. Again the boys went out and played hard. We had many chances and if it wasn't for the post or the crossbar the game would have had a different outcome. With just over 2 minutes left in the game the Mentors scored and tied the game. The boys didn't give up and after the face off put a shot off the crossbar. The game ended in a tie and then we had to wait for the Mentors to play their final game to see if we would have a rematch against the Hawks.
The boys again went to the hotel and between swimming, video games and movies stayed up well past most bedtimes but had a great time together.
Late Sunday morning we got the call that we were off to the finals. We headed back to the University of Michigan to play for the Championship against the Hawks and the only team to beat us in the tournament. The boys knew what they had to do and they all had the support of the parents and fans in the stands. Halfway through the first period Kristian put in the rebound off of a shot from Jacob. Then halfway through the second period after a great pass by Memphis and strong play from Caden, William was sent on a breakaway. He didn't let the opportunity slip by and buried our second goal deep into the net. Not to be shut out the Hawks came back and scored to make it 2-1 after 2 periods. The third period was back and forth but again a great defensive effort from Liam, Cary, Jacob and Memphis. Also the forwards did a tremendous job backchecking and not allowing the Hawks to even it up. On top of this Griffin was on the top of his game turning away shots or stopping shots and not giving up the rebounds. With just under a minute left and the net empty for the Hawks Caden scored an empty net goal to secure the win.
After the medal presentation and the winning team trophy presentation they announced the MVP of the game and awarded that to Griffin.
In my opinion all the kids deserved the MVP for the way they played the entire tournament. They gave it everything they had every game and played 5 strong games. The boys should be extremely proud of what they accomplished this weekend. The parents should be just as proud of the boys for going out and showing those American teams how good the Canadians are. I did hear a comment after the game that the kids wanted to ask the coach that gave us the tour "Who won the tournament?"
I want to thank the kids and the parents for a wonderful weekend. I would also like to thank the bench staff of Frank, Matt, Marty and Bill for their support and also our manager Paul and our parent rep Tracey for helping make this a very memorable weekend.
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