Sep 12, 2012 | ChrisDawson | 792 views
Toronto Redwings Early Bird
The major bantam Cyclones traveled to Toronto to participate in the Toronto Redwings Early Bird Tournament this past weekend. The tourney would be the first games of the season for the Bantam team that looks to build on last seasons run to the Alliance finals. Building around a solid core the Cyclone bantams had added a few new faces and the weekend would be an opportunity for the boys to merge as a team.
Friday's first game would see the Cyclones face off against fellow Alliance foe the Hamilton Huskies. The boys would skate to a 3 - 1 win to start the season off on the right foot. Scoring for Chatham was Ross Krieger, Phillip Clarke and Blair Derynck with helpers from Pataki, Harrogate and Dawson.
Fridays second game would be against the Whitby Wildcats and would be a test of for the new team and their ability to rally together. The Cyclones would draw first blood on a goal from Ben Nicholls assisted by Brady Pataki and Brendan Harrogate. The lead was short lived as Whitby would net the next three goals of the game to end the second with a 3 -1 lead. With some words of wisdom from the coach the boys would storm back in the third to tie the game for a final score of 3-3. Kyle Dawson would score from Ross Krieger and Ben Nicholls would pot his second of the game.
Saturday morning would see the team up against the highly ranked Jr Canadians. The Cyclones would battle hard and enter the third only down by a score of 2 - 0. The third however would see the Jr Canadians score 3 more to the Cyclones lone goal by Brendan Harrogate from Ben Nicholls and Levi Tetrault. This was a hard fought game by both sides.
Saturday afternoon the boys would have something to prove against the Oshawa Jr Generals. Needing a good game to stay in contention for a spot on Sunday the boys delivered with a 9 - 0 win. Scoring was balanced with goals coming from 7 different players. Scoring for the Cyclones were Harrogate, Pataki, Clarke, Dawson, Maxim, Nicholls and Derynck.
Both Joe Raaymakers and Nolan Hakr would play fantastic all weekend between the pipes giving their teammates a chance in every game.
2 wins, a tie and 1 loss would not be enough to move on to Sunday as the boys fell out of contention by percentage points. All in all a good start to the season and a chance for the boys to start to gel as a team.
Looking forward to League play to start this weekend against Windsor and Hamilton.