The Home Hardware-sponsored Kincardine Novice Kinucks entered the Chris Knott Memorial Tournament full of confidence, following a thrilling 4-3 overtime play-off victory, against the Hanover Falcons.
Hosted in
Port Elgin, this tournament would be the venue that offered some stiff
opposition to the Kinucks trophy ambitions. The weekend of hockey would also
provide an abundance of thrills, spills, saves, goals, disputed penalties, amazing
moments and high blood pressure for the on-looking crowds.
The first
challenge would come in the shape of the Kitchener Jr Rangers. Fully geared up
in the Kitchener Rangers equipment, the opposition certainly looked the part,
as the teams warmed up prior to the opening face-off. In what turned out to be a
closely fought battle, the Kincardine Kinucks would come out on top, claiming a
4-3 victory. Goals from Noah Swann (2+2), Carson Fletcher and Jesse Pagé would
be enough to set the team off to a winning start. Assists would also be
attributed to Quinton Pagé (2), Jared Houghton and Cody McLelland. In fact, it
would be McLelland who would pick up the game MVP award following a typical,
all action display.
Next up
would be the Petrolia Oilers and, again, this match up would not be for the
faint hearted. The Oilers proved to be hard working and well organized, giving
the Kinucks a real test, if they were to come away with a victory. Again, the
prolific Noah Swann would provide two unassisted goals as the Kinucks went on
to a 2-1 win. However, in fairness to Petrolia, the star of this game was the
Kinucks goalie Ryan Tanner who was nothing short of sensational! Tanner would
live up to his nickname as a member of the ‘Berlin Wall’, stopping shot after
shot. There is one save that does deserve special mention, as it is already
becoming something of an urban myth in local circles! Hanging onto their
slender 2-1 lead, Noah Page and Holden Stevenson in the Kinucks defense were
desperately trying to get the puck out of their crease. Bodies and sticks were
flying, as they did everything that they could to clear. At this point, the
puck did bobble out from the scrum, right onto the stick of the Oilers forward,
Jacques. Firing the puck into the top right corner, it looked like the game was
going to be tied at 2-2, for sure. Kinucks goalie Ryan Tanner obviously had
other ideas. In a split second, he miraculously picked himself up from the
ground and grabbed the puck from the air, making an incredible glove hand save!
It would be this save, amongst others, that would earn Tanner this games MVP
award, and the Kinucks would march on.
Next up
would be local rivals, the Saugeen Shores Storm. The Kinucks would run out 4-3
victors in this one, with Kwade Beisel showing that he wasn’t going to be out
done by his goal keeping partner, Tanner. This time, Beisel would steal the
show with a brilliant one on one pad save, that maintained the Kinucks 4-3 lead
and ultimately provided the win. Top scorer, Noah Swann collected a hat-trick
in this game with the other goal going to Ryan Tanner, who showed that he can
play forward and score goals, as well as being a brilliant goalie! Assists
were, not surprisingly, picked up by Quinton Pagé and Sam MacTavish, as both of
these players battle for the team lead in assists. Currently, Pagé has that
lead with 23 for the season, but MacTavish is close behind with a total of 19
to his name. Quinton Pagé would also receive the game MVP award, following
another highly skilled and hard working display.
The round
robin format meant that the Kinucks would face the Saugeen Shores Storm, again,
in the semi finals. The Kinucks would claim a 5-1 win in this one, with both
teams looking understandably tired. To their credit the Storm kept on going
until the very end. This time the goals came from Quinton Pagé (2), Noah Swann
(2) and Cody McClelland. Not forgetting those providing the assists, as they
were: Cam Fletcher (2), Jesse Pagé, Brock Courtney and Jared Houghton. Two
assists were enough to see Cam Fletcher awarded the games MVP, bringing the
defenseman’s own personal total to 20 for the season.
Not
surprisingly, the Kincardine Kinucks would have to face the Petrolia Oilers in
the final, if they were going to take this trophy home. The game would be
another tough one, but thankfully the Kinucks wouldn’t be as reliant on Ryan
Tanners goaltending heroics this time around. In a game that wasn’t without
incident, Kincardine found themselves in some penalty trouble, but still
managed to come out victorious in a 4-2 win. The players and fans from
Kincardine were absolutely elated. Goals from Cody McLelland and a Noah Swann
hat-trick were enough to claim the gold medal. The Final’s MVP would be awarded
to Noah Swann and deservedly so.
Taking the
trophy back to Kincardine on the Sunday, you would think that the players would
be worthy of a break. However, Monday night saw a depleted squad return to
play-off action, as sickness prevented the influential Noah Page and Ryan
Tanner from taking part. The team might have been forgiven for losing this one,
as they took on the Division winning, Mount Forest Rams. That said; the Kinucks
would continue on and claim yet another 3-2 victory. Well done Kincardine
Novice Kinucks!!