Submitted by:
Blaine Campbell |
Over the weekend of January 6-8, 2017, the Swan River Novice Colts travelled to The Pas to compete in the A&W Funky Threadz Novice Tournament.
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After a record of 2 wins and 1 loss in the round robin, the Colts were placed in the C-Final of the tournament, where they emerged victorious.
Photo :
Front Row (L-R): Seth Clouson, Dayson Martin, Alex Campbell, Trace Langan, Ashton Cochrane
Middle Row (L-R): Lily Nemetchek, Sam Lacasse, Hallie Genaille, Nicholas Puchailo, Logan Gray, Dade Werbicki
Back Row (L-R): Coaches Blaine Campbell, Derek Werbicki, Andy Puchailo
Game 1 on Friday afternoon saw the Colts take on the Flin Flon Reliance Rhinos. Solid goaltending and a balanced attack propelled the Colts to a 13-0 victory. Seth Clouson turned aside several good Rhino shots in net and got the shutout for the Colts. Offensively, the Colts were led by Sam Lacasse and Alex Campbell with hat tricks. Two goal games were added by Lily Nemetchek and Trace Langan while singles were potted by Nicholas Puchailo, Ashton Cochrane, and Dade Werbicki. Game 1 ended with a pizza shootout. Each team was provided with 3 minutes to score as many goals as they could in a break-away style shootout. After the initial 3 minutes, both teams were tied and forced to go into a sudden-victory style shootout. Reminiscent of the Canada-USA gold medal junior game, the teams went back and forth until Logan Gray potted the winner for the Colts.
After an evening spent swimming and playing mini-sticks, the Colts played two more games on Saturday.
An early Saturday morning game against the Thompson Jets was a very competitive game jam-packed with back and forth action. The Colts got down early though as the Jets scored a goal 1:02 into the game. The Colts came roaring back 2 minutes later as Alex Campbell (assisted by Seth Clouson) rifled a wrist shot into the top corner for the 1st of his 3 goals in the first period. Campbell scored two more goals in the first period to lift the Colts to a 3-1 lead after one period. The Jets came out firing in the 2nd period and scored three goals to take a 4-3 lead heading into the 3rd period. Early in the third period, the Thompson Jets extended the lead to 5-3 but the Colts replied one minute later on a goal by Trace Langan (assisted by Logan Gray) to cut the lead to 5-4. The remainder of the 3rd period was very intense as the Colts tried their best to tie the game. Dade Werbicki made several key saves to keep the game close, but he could not save them all, as the Jets scored a late goal to make the final score 6-4 for the Thompson Jets.
Saturday evening saw the Colts face off against The Pas Huskies Red team. A solid defensive effort helped Seth Clouson get his second shutout of the tournament, while timely offense lifted the Colts to a 5-0 victory over the Huskies. Offense was led by Alex Campbell with a hat trick and Trace Langan with 2 goals. Both teams played a tentative first period, but mid-way through the period, Campbell managed to open the scoring for the Colts. End of 1st period had the Colts leading 1-0. In the 2nd period, Trace Langan got his offense going and scored two goals for the Colts with assists going to Nicholas Puchailo and Dade Werbicki. End of 2nd period had the Colts leading 3-0. In the 3rd period, the Colts continued to dominate the play. Campbell scored two more goals to help seal the 5-0 victory for the Colts.
After a 2 Win, 1 Loss round robin, the Swan River Colts were placed in the C-Final against the Thompson Canadiens on Sunday. The team got a big boost when Dayson Martin managed to convince his parents to make the Mexico-to-Swan River trip home even longer by travelling on to The Pas the for final game. Trace Langan opened the scoring mid-way through the first period and Alex Campbell chipped in with 2 of his own goals before the end of the 1st period. The Canadiens got a late 1st period goal on Colt netminder Seth Clouson to cut the lead to 3-1 after 1. In the 2nd period, the Colts continued to push the play and were rewarded with 2 more goals. Campbell recorded one more to complete his hat trick, while Langan added a second marker to push the Colts to a 5-1 lead after 2 periods. In the third period, Seth Clouson stood tall in goal for the Colts and made several good saves to preserve the lead. Nicholas Puchailo added to the Colts score when he banged home his own rebound for a 6-1 Colts lead. His gritty goal was overshadowed though by an Academy award winning-like celebration. The Canadiens scored a late 3rd period goal to make the final score 6-2 for the Colts.
A Colts had another successful and fun weekend. The team continues to improve their skating, passing, and positional play. Coaches were extremely proud of each and every player on the ice. Next tournament will be their home Swan River tournament over the weekend of January 27-29. Feel free to come out and cheer on these young players.