Atom AE Silver Stick, News, Atom AE, U11, 2011-2012 (Petrolia Minor Hockey)

This Team is part of the 2011-2012 season, which is not set as the current season.
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Dec 04, 2011 | swatson | 766 views
Atom AE Silver Stick
Petrolia Atom AE had a strong showing at this year's Regional Silver Stick.  The Atom AE team was in Pool B with Strathroy, Tillsonburg and Ayr. The team came out strong and put together a solid showing against Tillsonburg.  The kids were able to handle the pressure of their first game in a high stakes tournament and maintain their composure focusing on one game at a time throughout the weekend.



Our first win came in game one against Tillsonburg.  The relentless style of play that this team is becoming known for was again demonstrated.  Petrolia came out with an 8-3 win to get team rolling in the first Silver Stick for many of our players.

Game two was against Ayr, a team that is not near the top of their league, but also have a lot of heart.  Ayr continued to battle against our determined team.  The goalie for Ayr played an amazing game and made it difficult for our players.  Because of our strong style of play, we came out on top of this game 5-3.

In our final game of the round robin, we faced our league rivals - Strathroy.  Every time these two teams meet you are guaranteed to see some good hockey.  Both teams came into the last game with a chance to finish first in Pool B.  Petrolia's fast pace and aggresive forechecking allowed us to have a 1-0 lead at the end of the first period.  Both teams played well defensively, with the the goalies from both teams standing on their heads for a no-goal second period.  Our kids continued to show patience in our defensive zone and grit and determination on our Penalty Kill forecheck.  This game was no exception as we were able to snipe two short handed goals in the third period.  Going into the last half of the third period, Strathroy battled back to end the game in a 3-3 tie.  Scoring their third goal with 6 seconds left on the clock. 

We finished tied for points with Strathroy, with 17 points each in the round robin.  The tie breaker was the goals for percentage.  As a result we finished second in our pool by the smallest of margins.

Our players dedicated our Quarter Final game to one of our own players who was not able to continue because he received a concussion in the second period against Strathroy.  Each player wore #16 on their left glove to show their support for one of their own.  St Mary's, who is undefeated in our league, came out strong to gain a 3-0 lead in the first period.  Again our players showed that they do not understand the meaning of the word quit and were able to fight against the odds in order to tie the game at 3-3.  With the momentum now in our favour our kids did the unexpected and gained a 4-3 lead in the third period.  The last four minutes of the period seemed to take forever.  St Mary's continued to fight as well and we were on the wrong side of a 5-4 game to the eventual 2011 Regional Silver Stick Champions. 

Although our Silver Stick for this year ended in the Quarter Finals - the coaching staff and parents are amazed, pleased and proud of the way our kids play.  DETERMINATION, HEART, and RELENTLESSNESS are not just words to this group of kids - they have become a standard of play and character traits.  Our goalies made saves throughout the tourney that were worthy of making TSN's Highlight of the Night which kept us in all of our games.  All players gave 100% of what they had each and every game.

WE are proud of you guys (and girl) - you are classy during difficult times and represent our team and town with the utmost respect and responsibilty.  This team is in it with the best of them...and they belong there!!  GO OILERS!!!  Keep up the good work.