2004's Blue Thunder Cup Champions!, News, Pre-Novice, 2012 (Maitland PEP Ice Sharks AAA Spring Hockey)

This Team is part of the 2012 season, which is not set as the current season.
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May 29, 2012 | Greg McNevan | 1482 views
2004's Blue Thunder Cup Champions!
In their 3rd trip to the finals this spring the 2004's would not be denied GOLD this time.  Hard work, excellent defensive play, consistent forechecking and awesome goal tending was the recipe for this championship.

    Friday morning we got out of the gate early with an 13-0 win over Collingwood.  This was an offensive explosion, that seen every player get on the score sheet.  The next two games of this tournament is where this group of kids really came together as a team.  Friday afternoon we faced Personal Best Aces which was a very close defensive battle.  We came out of the first period with a 2-0 lead, but the Aces never quit.  They had sustained pressure on numerous occasions throughout the 2nd and 3rd period, but with defence and goal tending that was second to none all weekend we held on for a 2-1 win.
    Saturday morning we faced Regional East, a team we had beat earlier in the spring.  Again we got out to a 2-0 lead in the 1st period, but much like the Aces game we couldn't get our offence going after that.  A much improved Regional team, battled hard all game, but we escaped with a 2-1 win.  The boys never panicked, they stayed positive, kept working hard, and as good teams do we found a way to win on a day that the bounces weren't going our way.  This win secured first place in our division and a bye into the semi-final, leaving Saturday afternoon free for the kids to have some fun together!
    Championship day!  In the semi we faced the Bluewater Sharks, a team that played us tough in Stratford.  Right from the drop of the puck the boys were determined and focused.  We jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the first period and wouldn't look back in a 7-1 win.  On to the final for a rematch with Personal Best Aces.  The Aces would strike first with a power play goal 3 mins in.  This was the first time we trailed in a game all weekend.  Again, staying focused, and not panicking we turn around and tied it up 12 secs later.  We added another one in the 1st and took a 2-1 lead into the second period. At 8:45 of the 2nd period we took a 3-1 lead, this is when I could tell the boys really believed that they could win a championship.  With almost 2 minutes of 4 on 4 play our boys dominated but could not gain that 3 goal lead.  The hard working Aces added another in the second making it 3-2 Ice Sharks going into the 3rd.  In the 3rd the Sharks would attack, scoring 3 unanswered goals in the first 6 mins giving us a 6-2 lead with 6 mins to go.  The boys could feel it now, but the Aces never quit, adding 2 in the last 4 mins making it a 6-4 final.  With a 5-0 record we out scored the opposition 30-7 and every player had at least 3 points in the tournament, impressive TEAM effort.
    Congratulations boys!  Your parents, families, and coaches are proud of you!  There is no group of kids that was more deserving! Sarnia is next.
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