THURSDAY, April 16, 2009
Atom Chargers play way
to Pepsi tourney semis
Atom Chargers at Buffalo
Novice Chargers end 08-09
season on high note in Buffalo
Acton Novice Chargers
ended the 2008-09 hockey season at the Pepsi
Cola Tournament in Buffalo, NY on a high note
against some very good
terms from both sides of
the border. They included
the Kiwanis Stars, The
Whitby Select and West
Seneca, NY.
In the first game, against
Kiwanis they fell behind
2-0 less then 4 minutes
into the game. Before the
1 st period ended, Kyle
MacDonald scored Acton’s first goal of the
tournament on a great pass
from Talon Fife. Kiwanis
went up 3-1 at 4:06 into
the 2nd period. The Chargers once again would
cut the lead to one with a
goal from Jake Case, assists going to Ricky Villa
and Kyle Spence.
Trailing 3-2 going into
the 3rd period, Acton tied
the game at 3-3 on an unassisted goal from Jake
Case, his 2 nd. However
with 4 1/2 minutes remaining, Kiwanis took a
4-3 lead and later add an
empty net goal for a final
score: Kiwanis 5, Acton
3.
In the second game the
Chargers played a very
strong Whitby team and
wound up on the losing
end of a 7-0 score. Whitby
took a 1-0 lead into the 2nd
period, were they scored 4
goals to take a commanding 5-0 lead. They scored
2 in the 3rd to round out the
scoring.
“Whitby is a very good
team, they outplayed and
outskated us, great passing
team!” said coach Case.
“After the game, we found
out that they play together
all the time; they have four
Select teams, all they do is
play each other, no House
League games. Where we
might get a practice now
and then and play about
10-12 games.”
Acton met West Seneca,
NY in the third game of
the tournament and final
game of the season for the
Chargers, enjoying with a
4-4 tie.
Again the Chargers
would surrender the first
goal of the game just 2:43
into the 1st period. Acton
responded with a goal
from Jake Case with assists going to Ricky Villa
and Ben Armstrong. Just
7 seconds into the 2nd period, on a pass from Liam
Wier, Jake Case skated in
alone, notching his 2nd of
the game, giving the Chargers a short 2-1 lead. Two
late goals from West Seneca saw Acton trailing 3-2
going into the 3rd period
and by 34 seconds into the
3rd, Acton trailed 4-2.
Hat Trick
With7:29 remaining,
Jake Case scored his hat
trick goal with assists
going to Jack Kennedy
and Ricky Villa. Then
the Chargers pulled their
15
THE NEW TANNER
goalie with just over a
minute left. It looked
like West Seneca would
score on the empty net!
Acton kept it out, finally
springing Nicolas Jones
on a breakaway, where
he would make no mistake tieing the game
4-4 with 27 seconds remaining, assists going to
Talon Fife and Jake Case.
It was an exciting game,
great way to finish off our
season!” said coach Case.
With a flood between the
2nd and 3rd period, we told
them in the dressing room
that this is it, last game
you will play together as
a team to go out and give
your all, and that’s exactly
what they did!”
“Down 4-2, we could
have just quit, we kept
their spirits up on the
bench and they did the
rest. Seeing how they reacted when Nic scored to
tie it. And when that final
buzzer sounded, they all
jumped on Justin like they
won gold! It was a great
feeling.” Justin played
great for us all tournament
and very solid all year,
Atoms notch win
Acton Atom Chargers battled the Erin/Hillsburgh
Devils for the final time this season, on March 27 and
won a 4-2 decision.
The Chargers came out quickly scoring 3 times in
the first period. Shannon Oulton opened the scoring
with assists for Spencer Evans and Malcolm Davidson.
Shortly after Malcolm Davidson made a beautiful pass
to Spencer Evan for his first tally of the night, Reilly
Constable topped off the period by adding an unassisted
goal to put the Chargers up 3-0.
In typical fashion, the devils battled back hard notching 2 goals in the second period bringing the game
close. In the third period, the line of Davidson, Oulton,
and Evans were hard at it again with Spencer Evans
scoring his second of the night, James Bursa continued
his solid play backstopping the Chargers to the 4-2
victory.
“We were pleased with the kids’ play” commented
Coach Scott Thomson.
Acton Atom Select Chargers travelled
to Buffalo, NY for the annual Pepsi Tournament in that city and made it to the
semi-finals before being shut out by a
strong team from Hamilton.
Acton’s first game came against a
familiar opponent, the Erie Lions. Erie
opened the scoring in the first with Acton
responding when Spencer Evans scored,
with help from Shannon Oulton and
Malcolm Davidson, in the second. The
Chargers opened the scoring in the third
with an unassisted goal by Ian Davies.
Following that, Hunter Canary scored
with an assist by Ryan Vermeulen. The
Chargers could only muster a 2-2 tie but
had great goal-keeping by Griffin Cunneyworth.
Game two came early Saturday morning against the Niagara JR Purple
Eagles. Shannon Oulton proved that being in the right place at the right time
pays off, scoring her first of the morning
with an assist by Spencer Evans. The
Purple Eagle potted three in the second
with Acton responding with one from
Tanner Canary with help from Reilly
Constable.
The third period opened with Shannon Oulton scoring her second from
line-mate Malcolm Davidson but the
Chargers could not hold off the Purple
Eagle, losing a close one 4-3.
Face the Stars
In what could have been the Atom
Chargers last game of the season, Acton
faced the Southtown Stars. The Chargers were behind by one after the first but
battled back with Shannon Oulton opening the scoring with help from Spencer
Evans. Acton notched another marker
shortly thereafter with Hunter Canary
potting his first of the afternoon.
The third period was a wild affair with
Shannon Oulton scoring her second of
the game from Spencer Evans again and
Hunter Canary. With the Stars up 5-3,
Acton battled back with Reilly Constable
scoring from Ryan Vermeulen, and with
a minute left on the clock Hunter Canary scored to tie the game from Malcolm
Davidson and Ryan Vermeulen, sending
the Chargers to the semi finals.
The semi-finals saw the Chargers
play Hamilton Coronation but the Chargers could not muster any offence and
came up short by a score of 3-0. Considering the team from Hamilton was
the heavy favourite the Chargers were
not disappointed with the outcome of
the game.
“The kids rose to the challenge in
each and every game and could have
beaten any one of the teams we faced,”
remarked Coach Scott Thomson as the
season came to an end.
“I would like to thank Paul Vermeulen and Brian Canary for all their help
on the bench and on the ice,” said the
coach. I also greatly appreciated all the
help from Diane Vermeulen as team
manager. I would also like to thank all
the parents for their continued support
throughout the season. Special thanks to
my family putting up with me through a
long season.”
ACTON MINOR HOCKEY ASSOCIATION
Tanner “Rep”
Spring Try-outs
Sunday, April 19,
Saturday, April 25,
and Sunday, April 26
at Mold-Masters SportsPlex
5:00pm Novice
6:00pm Atom
7:00pm Peewee
8:00pm Bantam
9:00pm Midget
To pre-register go to
www.actontanners.com
or
Register night of try-out.
All players must be pre-registered and
paid before they can go on the ice.