Submitted by:
Craig Zamzow |
On January 8-10, 2015 the Swan Valley “B” Stampeders travelled to Flin Flon to participate in the Jason Morran Memorial Atom tournament. The team had enjoyed some practices, but this would be their first game action of the season.
Click picture for a larger version.
Back Row (L to R): Coach Tim Grazier, Logan Grandfield, Landon Stevens, Liam MacArthur, Nolan Woodward, Crystal Zamzow, Coach Cory Grandfield
Front Row (L to R): McKenna Gray, Wyatt Rose, Henry Branconnier, Sammy Jo Moshenko, Brandon Grazier
Horizontal: Comrie Quill with Jason Morran Memorial Tournament Trophy
Friday afternoon they faced The Pas Huskies. Three minutes into the first period Wyatt Rose opened the scoring with a top shelf wrist shot. Five minutes later McKenna Gray fired a shot from her left wing that the goalie got a pad on, but Logan Grandfield was charging the net from his right wing and patiently waited for the goalie to flop down before burying a wrist shot where momma keeps the cookie jar. In the second period, the game tightened up with fewer chances for both sides. Brandon Grazier did create one opportunity part way through the period and showed a burst of speed down the left wing. The Huskies defenceman had him angled, but Brandon picked his spot, 7-hole (right armpit!) and had enough power to squeeze it through the Huskies netminder. The score remained the same for the balance of the second period and until the last minute of the third period, when Samantha Jo Moshenko put her rocket wrist shot in the corner. 4-0 was the final score for the Stampeders. Comrie “The Grin” Quill made some big saves in the first two periods and picked up the shut out award.
Saturday morning the Stampeders faced the Thompson King Miners. They were down to 9 skaters as Henry Branconnier was ill and unable to suit up. Halfway through the first period a King Miner forward broke away from the pack and was able to beat a defenseless Quill high on the glove side to give the Miners the early lead. Four minutes later defenceman Landon Stevens gathered a loose puck at the blue line and hit his mark with a long wrist shot to tie the game. The game remained tied after one period and again after two periods. It was a tight checking affair, but Coach Tim Grazier’s forecheck strategy paid off with 8 minutes remaining. Henry Branconnier, McKenna Gray, and Liam McArthur had the King Miners hemmed deep in their own end for a long shift before McKenna Gray drove the net and buried a loose puck behind the netminder to give the Stampeders a 2-1 lead. The King Miners pulled their goalie in the closing moments but Stampeders netminder Comrie Quill looked like an elastic man as he deflected shots to the corners.
Saturday night the team visited the Whitney Forum to play the OCN Blizzard. OCN came out flying on the opening shift and a perhaps overconfident Stampeders club nearly paid the price, had it not been for Wyatt Rose making two big saves between the pipes. After the slow start the Stampeders easily handled the Blizzard and earned a shutout for Wyatt Rose. Sammy Jo Moshenko scored three goals in the first seven minutes to open the floodgates. Landon Stevens had five goals. Logan Grandfield had a hat trick, while McKenna Gray and Nolan Woodward each had a pair. Singles went to Comrie Quill, Liam MacArthur, Henry Branconnier, Crystal Zamzow, and Brandon Grazier.
The Stampeders moved to the “A” final on Sunday vs the undefeated Gillam Chargers. The Chargers featured the dynamic duo of Will and Cole Eardley, who was a teammate of several of the Swan Valley kids two seasons ago. After a slow start on Saturday night, Coach Cory Grandfield had a hearty pre-game pep talk for the kids and even implemented a high-paced warmup that Viktor Tikhonov of the Central Red Army would have been proud of, to ensure the team avoided another slow start. It obviously worked as Samantha Jo Moshenko opened the scoring 3 minutes in, with a poor angle shot that only a goal scorer like her could convert on. Less than a minute later McKenna Gray setup up shop in front of the Gillam net and fired a loose puck five hole on the Charger netminder to give the Stampeders a 2-0 lead. The Stampeders forecheck was quite impressive and at the 9 minute mark of the first period Liam MacArthur found the back of the net to give the Stampeders an early 3-0 lead. The club had only given up one goal over their first three games, and their focus on defence with excellent backchecking had paid dividends all weekend.
The game remained 3-0 at the end of the first period. The second period saw Gillam pick up some momentum as they started to take the play away from the Stampeders. Comrie Quill had to resort to using his goalie mask and his best friend (the cross bar) for a couple saves. After two periods the score remained 3-0. The Chargers opened the third period with a powerplay and implemented what looked to be a set play off the face off as they chipped the puck to the middle before they buried a wrister in the Stampeders net. Gillam lived up to their nickname as they repeatedly charged the Stampeders zone in waves and scored again with 2:13 remaining on the clock to make it a 3-2 game. Coach Grandfield called a timeout with 1:37 on the clock to settle his troops and provide instruction. However, the Stampeders wouldn’t get the puck out of their zone in the last 90 seconds, and the Chargers had one goal mouth scramble that cost Coach Grandfield a few more hairs! The club held for the 3-2 victory to claim the “A” championship and trophy.
The club will host some exhibition games mid-month and will participate in another tournament in The Pas on February 5-7.