Montgomery Ford Midget girls Win Silver in the Walter Gretzkey Brantford Midget “C” divison
Kincardine Midget girls have had a busy past week and a extremely short bench starting with 5 players missing, leaving 11 skaters and our goalie. Tuesday night went to Tiverton to play a provincial and league game combine winning 4-1 . Then Wed night , traveled to Mt. Forest to play a league make-up game having only 10 skaters and Amber, the team took a early lead in the 1st period , then Mt Forest started some body checking and Gracie Stewart had been checked into the boards, a 2 minute minor was given only and clearly was CFB , of course I was told they had the game under control as I tried to consult with the ref’s , several other rough play continued, finally with a 3-0 lead , read next page --------
Gracie was carrying the puck, # 18 from the Mt Forest team came off their bench on a change and charged with arms up, cloth’s-lined skating knocking Gracie down severely, then was concussed and now will miss 2-3 weeks of hockey, including the upcoming weekend tournament in Brantford she and her family were looking forward to attending and shortening our line-up . This was a 4 minute head checking penalty, really this kind of intent to injure should be a penalty issued that the player sits out as long as the injured player does ! Kincardine won the game 3-0 .
The team traveled to Brantford Walter Gretzkey Girls tournament , leaving when the rain hit . All players we ready for a 11:00 am game in Burford arena to challenge the East Lambton and yes with 10 skaters and our goalie . We only had 2 real defenseman. Making fast changes for the team Kelsey Padfield and Christen Bell were recruited from all year playing forward now to defense and what a great job they did. The girls took a early lead, 2-0, handling the puck well with the new changes and short bench from usual 16 players. The 3rd period clock time was set @ 12:00 minutes, we should have said something before it started, as they were 10-10-10 period according to rules, and of course they scored around 3 minutes, then another goal 1:20 and another with 5 seconds left, we now knew how the USA Olympic teams felt . Tegan Moore and Elsie Shewfelt scored our goals set up by Bell and Megan Stewart Kemp ………Starting the round robin series with a loss wasn’t the plan. There was 8 Midget “C” girls teams , all teams had 3 games, with only 4 teams advancing to Semi finals. Our next game Friday was @ 9:30 pm, so we needed fill in time, so the team gathered and had 2 games of laser tag for players and coaching staff and was a blast! Our 9:30 game vs St. Clair was exciting to play and in the Gretzkey Center ! The girls set things up to go up a goal in the 1st and 2nd period and with only 30 minutes total hockey time, we did move quickly, then played a defensive 3rd period for a 2-0 victory . Goals scored were both from Rachel Whitney set up from Mangotich , Jolley, and Kemp ….. Billie Patterson and Lauren Jolly with our 2 new defenseman in training ( Bell & Padfield ) held it together and Amber Howald gained a S/O . The girls had some fun time at the motel Friday evening and were rested for our next midday game Saturday vs Nepean who were actually a very classy well disaplined team and a pleasure to play a fast game of hockey with .Both teams having similar records made it better! This game only took 1 goal to win as the 10 players and goalie shout them down with a 1-0 victory ! Sadie Battler nailed the 1 goal from Tegan Moores and Korrine Mangotich’s nice behind the net play that this line has and does well . Then almost thru the mid 3rd period # 6 from Norfolk came straight across the ice and laid Mangotich in the boards hard , CFB , player ejected and Korrine now has a concussion , out for the rest of tournament and maybe more……Howald came out with another shut-out and our Defense shut them down again , giving our team 2 wins out of 3 games. The team had to wait till Sunday morning early till 2 more round robin games finished before we knew fore sure we played. Having found out we got thru after all other teams completed there round robin , for Kincardine to advance to the semi final game @ 10:30 sun morning to vs Norfolk Herricanes . Having to get up early to watch the Canada Gold Medal game and check out of motel , still looking for a tooth brush , to get ready for this barn burner game . This 10 player team have somehow blossomed at a good time and were playing well, and wanted to make the medal round as this game was end to end battle with both teams and Kincardine making smart line changes helped with the short bench. Play after play, the game stayed scoreless, and somewhat rough with ref’s letting things go again, and intent of injury was there and down players, looking like overtime was approaching , then Jolley pulled the Go-Go gadget play an hit Elsie Shewfelt on the tape of her stick for a blue line breakaway , went top self to get a 1-0 lead with 2:04 left in the 3rd period. The team called a timeout to settle things and shut this team down again to advance to the championship gold medal game with East Lambton again with a 3pm game start. With 9 skaters and goalie, both Gracie and Korrine standing on the bench breaks their hearts having to watch a big game instead of participate, having said that, this game was rough enough again. East Lamboth took a 2 goal lead in the 1st period. Working some power plays in the 2nd period , still not able to score, it took the Go-Go play from Patteron and Kemp set up Rachel Whitney for a Crosby goal to get us in the door. The 9 skaters did their very best, and fatigue was setting in im afraid, as we were scored on again in the 3rd period for a 3-1 loss , for the l receiving a Silver Medal from Walter Gretzkey 2014 tournament ! The penalty’s we 2/1 ratio against and MVP’s for all games were chosen by officials, Elsie , Megan,Sadie,Elsie,Rachel were the 5 recipients . All 10 skaters and goalie played a inspirational tournament to accomplish silver and the coaching staff and parents were very proud and pleased of their efforts!
Keep up good work Kincardine Midget Girls