AE Kinucks Gain Tournament Experience, News, Atom AE, 2013-2014 (Kincardine Minor Hockey Association)

This Team is part of the 2013-2014 season, which is not set as the current season.
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Oct 27, 2013 | Steve | 707 views
AE Kinucks Gain Tournament Experience
The Atom AE Kinucks warmed up for their first tournament with a regular season game against the Listowell Cyclones. This would be a hard fought battle from the first buzzer until the last. The result would be a pretty rare 0-0 tie, with both Jared Petrie and Johnny Graham, putting in solid performances in the Kincardine net.

Both Kincardine and Listowell would have their chances to win this, but the goal scoring breakthrough never came for either team. This was particularly surprising for Sam MacTavish who made Pavel Datsyuk look very average for a moment, as he skated the entire length of the ice, toe dragging past no fewer than four players, only to be denied by the Cyclones goalie.

The team then headed up to Collingwood for the Fall Classic Tournament, where they would be up against some tough opposition, with Rep teams travelling from far and wide. Their opening game would see them face the Paris AE Team, where they soon found themselves trailing 3-0. However the team fought back in an exciting match-up.

Kinucks defenceman turned winger, Noah Page, opened his account for the season, making it 3-1. The assist was awarded to Sam Mactavish and this really fired up the Kinucks to press forward. With the versatile Noah Page being deployed as a forward, Caydence Gibson was relied upon to fill the defensive void. It has to be said that Gibson played her best games in this tournament, aggressively holding that blue line for the Kinucks, with solid support supplied by Tomas 'Crusher' Nancekivell.

Carson Boettinger's hard skating was awarded with a goal, that made it 3-2. This time Dakota Condie and Aiden Berkman collected the assists, putting the Kinucks right back in contention.

The game tying goal soon followed, when Sam MacTavish made it 3-3 with a well taken unassisted goal.

Without being dirty, the game certainly had a competitive edge. The 'Brock Star' Brock Courtney had been awarded a 2 minute roughing penalty, as a result of his hard working style. Unfortunately, as the game was coming to an end and the Kinucks pressed forward for the go ahead goal Zack Eybergen would also be sent to the penalty box somewhat unjustifiably. Sure, Eybergen collided with the Paris forward James Deane, but really, the fact that he is a much taller kid probably had a lot to do with him being assessed a two minute body checking penalty. In truth, the referee might have also been making up for the lack of a previous call moments earlier, when Deane had also been the recipient of a crushing mid-ice collision with Cam Fletcher, only for Fletcher to get off un-penalized. However, Zack Eybergen's performance would earn himself the Kincardine's hardest working player award, in this 3-3 tie.

The Kinucks second game saw them take on an Owen Sound select team, losing out 2-0, in a game they could have easily won. This would be another hard fought encounter, with Owen Sound getting themselves into some penalty trouble, while the Kinucks were only assessed a two minute roughing penalty for Dakota Condie. However, a slightly weary looking Kinucks team could not capitalize on their powerplay advantages. One player who certainly wasn't weary was Bailey Pierson, who collected Kincardine's hardest working player award, in this game. This was a well deserved award for Pierson, especially when you consider the hard working performances delivered by the likes of Lauren 'Lidstrom' Thede, Jessica Anderson, Holden Stevenson and David 'Attack' Ulak.

Unfortunately, the final game was a similar story, with the Kinucks losing 3-0 to Coldwater. Again, it was a game that Kincardine could well have won on another day, but they quickly fell behind 2-0, following a slow starting first period that is becoming a little bit of a worrying trend. The Kinucks would again see hard skating performances from forwards Condie, Page, MacTavish, Courtney, Berkman, Eybergen, Ulak, Boettinger and Pierson, but they still need to convert their offensive chances into goals. Hopefully, the Kinucks will eventually get the goals they deserve, building on the fairly solid defence that the likes of Anderson, Fletcher, Nancekivell, Stevenson, Thede and Gibson provide.

In this game, trailing 2-0 in the first, things looked to be going from bad to worse when the Coldwater forward Joey Roemer skated in, one on one, with Kinucks goalie Jared Petrie. Petrie would do well to deny Roemer, but the back checking Cam Fletcher would be the recipient of a two minute hooking penalty, for his efforts. Coldwater made the most of the powerplay chance, making it 3-0, with a shot from Lane Mattice and that's how the game would end.

Head coach Doug MacTavish was very pleased with the teams efforts saying that the players would benefit from the tournament experience and he's hoping that the Kinucks offensive efforts will be rewarded with more goals, in the coming weeks / months.

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