The Atom Maddogs were only on the ice for a couple practices over the Christmas Break and hadn’t seen game action since mid December. The Clifford Tournament offered a chance to get back into game readiness and although close by, provided a chance to play against teams not in their regular local league loop. The weather was perfect for January and a 9:00 am start suited the Maddogs. It was clearly evident walking into the dressing room Saturday morning that the Maddogs were pumped and ready to play.
Game #1 had Minto facing off against Erin-Hillsburgh. Noah Aitken opened the scoring in the 1st period giving the Maddogs a 1-0 lead. The action was end to end with both teams getting good chances. Minto broke the game open in the second when Bradyn Brooking and D.J. Campbell both scored in the first minute of the second frame to give Minto a 3 – 1 lead. Nathan Weber banged home a rebound late in the second period to give Minto a 4 – 0 lead. The third period was scoreless and Minto won game 1 with a 4 – 0 victory over Erin-Hillsburgh.
Game #2 saw Minto matched against Elora. Minto came out strong from the puck drop and owned the puck play in the Elora end for the first minute. Bradyn Brooking scored just a 1:05 into the first period to give the Maddogs a 1 – 0 lead. Elora recovered nicely after giving up the first goal and were able to match the Maddogs stride for stride and opportunity for opportunity for most of the 1st frame. Finally at the 3:41 mark of the first frame, Elora got on the scoreboard. Minto recovered quickly and from the puck drop at the centre ice, pushed the puck deep into Elora’s end. Within 40 seconds of Elora scoring, James Honorkiewkz notched his first goal of the tournament being setup with a nice pass by Noah Aitken. Minto continued their aggressive forecheck with James getting his second goal in the first period with just 3 seconds left on the clock after receiving a pass in front of the net by Ian Jamieson. The Maddogs carried their momentum into the second and third period scoring 4 times in each frame to a 11 – 1 win over Elora. Scoreing for Minto in the second and third periods were Noah Aithen ( 2 ) James Honorkiewkz ( 3 ) Andrew Mallett ( 1) D.J. Campbell ( 1) and Seamus Johnson (1).
With two wins and a plus – minus rating of + 14, the Maddogs knew they had a good chance of being in the Championship Game but would not know for sure until round robin play was finalized. By mid afternoon, it was confirmed that Minto would play in the Championship Game at 7:00 pm against a very strong squad from Elmira who also went 2 – 0 in their round robin play.
After a slight delay, the championship game was set for puck drop by 7:30. Soon after the puck was dropped, it was evident that Minto was in tough against the Elmira Wildcats. The play was back and forth with the Wildcats beating the Maddogs to the loose pucks and owning the boards. After a sustained forecheck by the Wildcats in the Minto end of the ice, Andrew Mallett picked up a loose puck along the boards. He skated it down into the Elmira end and with a beautiful wrist shot from the face off circle tucked the puck in just under the crossbar to give Minto a 1-0 lead at the 7:39 mark. Elmira didn’t let up and played hard and created many odd man rushes with their good passing skills and numerous scoring opportunities. Zach Harrow was able to keep Elmira off the scoreboard with some excellent saves but the Elmira pressure was relentless and they were able to capitalize on rebound opportunities netting two goals in the first period to end the first frame with a 2:1 lead. The Maddogs for the first time in the tournament, found themselves outplayed and behind on the scoreboard. They had to dig deep and pushed back with their own aggressive puck play in the second period but got themselves into penalty trouble mid way through the second frame. Elmira created some good scoring chances while on the powerplay but Zach was upto the challenge and kept Elmira from building on their lead. After killing the penalty, Minto played hard for the puck along the boards and their effort paid off when Noah Aitken was able to find the back of the net at the 4:00 minute mark of the second after receiving a pass from Ian Jamieson to tie the score at 2 apiece. The Maddogs would once again draw a penalty late in the second period which would carry over to the 3rd period. While on the penalty kill, and trying to clear the puck, Minto got assessed another penalty to go two men down in the first minutes of the 3rd frame. Elmira palyed hard but the Maddogs were able to limit their powerplay chances in close and cleared the puck away to prevent rebounds. Once at full strength, Minto pushed hard and after winning a puck battle at centre ice, Nathan Weber skated in on a breakway putting the puck under the Elmira Goaltender’s glove at the 6 minute mark to give the Maddogs a 3 – 2 lead and their first lead over Elmira in the game. Elmira continued to push the puck and forecheck hard in the last 5 mintues. With approx 2 minutes left in the game, Elmira pulled their Goalie to give them man advantage. Minto once again got themselves into penalty trouble and with just 7 seconds left in the 3rd, were assessed another penalty. With a face off in Minto’s end, Minto called timeout to setup the play. Noah Aitken took the face off and won it, pulling the puck back to Ian Jamieson. Ian was able to get a wrist shot off quickly that got passed the Elmira defencemen to end the game.
Minto had done it, they had earned the title of Clifford Atom Tournament Champions ……
Congratulations Maddogs … truly a Team Effort and a terrific way to start 2012