Apr 16, 2014 | btackaberry | 1955 views
OWHA Bronze Medal for Midget Girls
The Bruce Peninsula Predators Midget ‘C’ Girls brought home
a bronze medal from the Ontario Women’s Hockey Association Provincial
Championships, April 11 – 13, 2014.
The championship took place in the GTA at 14 different
arenas. Over 540 teams from 31
categories and seven divisions ranging from Novice C right up to Senior AA took
part in the three day tournament. It was
an honour for this team from the Bruce to represent our area at such a
prestigious event.
In February, nine ‘C’ teams in the WOAA played off for the chance to advance to the Provincials; the top three moving on. The Predators won all eight of their games, capturing first place after the play downs, and they haven’t looked back since!
The Peninsula team breezed through the round robin play of the tournament in Brampton, beating out Lambton Shores Predators 5-1, Mount Forest Rams 10-0 and Hearst Ice Cats 5-2. Predator goalies, Abby Gnass and Paige Concordia both demonstrated superb net minding. At the Saturday night quarter-finals, the girls faced off against their WOAA rivals, Georgian Shores Lightning. A win would guarantee a spot in the semi-finals; a loss would send them home. Georgian Shores indicated what kind of game it would be when they started off the game with two penalties within the first two minutes! Courtney Hepburn put the Predators on the scoreboard in the first period when she snuck one past the Lightning goal tender on a pass from Kendra Schultz. The second period remained scoreless; thanks to the defensive penalty kill when both Lexi and Courtney ended up in the box at the same time! Early in the third, Lexi Clark took off on a breakaway and put one over the goalie’s shoulder, clinching the win. An exhausting hard fought match by all the Predators!
Sunday morning, the team travelled to Vaughan for the Semi-final game versus the Thessalon Lions. Predators’ goalie, Abby Gnass held off the Thessalon Lions in the first period, but the Lions’ #11 scored halfway into the second. Bruce Peninsula replied with an unassisted goal from Summer Marcella, tying up the game. With only 33 seconds left in the second, Thessalon scored again. Despite the strong effort, the Predators came up short, taking their first loss of the tournament.
The bronze medal game took place on the same ice surface that afternoon against the Lambeth Lancers. A clean first period saw no penalties, but no goals either. Early in the second, Lambeth scored. The Predators fought back, incurring two penalties, but still no goals. Never giving up, Courtney came back with an unassisted goal at five minutes into the third, tying up the game! A minute later, the Lancers took a penalty for body contact, giving Kendra the opening she needed to score, assisted by Katie Bridge. The Predators killed the last five minutes on the clock, clinching the bronze medal victory! A first for the BPMHA! All the players are commended for their efforts!
The Bronze Medal team included Abby Gnass, Abby Myles, Mackenzie Arthur, Alexis Clark, Courtney Hepburn, Kendra Schultz, Emily Urbshott, Lacey Moore, Katie Bridge, Summer Marcella, Terrilynn Martindale, Paige Concordia and coaches Brittany Tackaberry, Chantelle Eckenswiller and Kimberly Liverance. Special thanks to all the family and friends that made the trek to cheer on the girls, (and to all those cheering from home!); Bruce Peninsula Minor Hockey Association; and the Wiarton and District Firefighters Association for the celebratory welcome home!