The Atom LL1 Wolverines, sponsored by
Absolute Fitness, participated in the Stoney Creek Sweethearts tournament the
weekend of February 3rd-5th.
The Wolverines would square off against one
of the host teams, Stoney Creek Green, on Friday morning. Claire Weinacht would score the first goal
1:05 into the game and it would seem the Wolverines were off to a great
start. The host team would respond late
in the 1st period and it would remain tied until late into the 3rd
period when Emmie Fronchak would find Rowyn Burns to break the tie. The Wolverines would skate to a 2-1 win in
the opener.
The Wolverines would play Lakeshore - White in their second game of the tourney. The Wolverines would once again score early in the game, registering their first goal only 0:14 into the game. Their offense would prove to be too much for the Lightning as they would post 4 goals in the opening period by Teagan Vinke, Olivia Burns, and Emmie Fronchak. Faith Appleton would add another in the 3rd period. Assists would be collected by Rowyn Burns, Teagan Vinke, Emmie Fronchak and Isabella Mountain-Viera. Kasey Livingstone would collect her first shutout of the tournament.
The Wolverines would close out round robin play on Saturday morning against the Oshawa Generals – White. The Wolverines quick strike offense would once again kick in, registering their first goal only 0:11 into the game. They would skate to a 7-0 win with goals posted by Claire Weinacht, Teagan Vinke, Rowyn Burns, and Olivia Burns. Assists would be collected by Teagan Vinke and Faith Appleton.
The Wolverines would end up in a 3-way tie for 1st place after round robin play with Burlington Barracudas – Teal and Stoney Creek – Black. They would take the 1st place seeding according to the tournament tie break rules giving them a bye to the Semi-finals and ensuring “home ice” advantage through the Semis and the Finals.
The Wolverines would end up drawing a rematch with Stoney Creek – Green in the Semis early Sunday morning after they won their Quarter final match up. This game again saw a hectic pace with chances at both ends of the ice. After two scoreless periods, the 0-0 tie would be broken on a breakaway goal by Claire Weinacht with a great shot over the pad of the strong Stoney Creek goalie. The Wolverines defensive play would take over for the remainder of regulation to punch the Wolverines ticket to the Final.
The Wolverines would play the Burlington Barracudas – Teal, who finished 2nd overall after round robin play, on Sunday afternoon. This Finals match up saw two teams with very similar structure squaring off. Both teams exhibited good passing; strong fore-check and back check abilities; reliable shutdown defence and great goaltending. The Final would see 2 shutout periods of hockey before the Wolverines would get on the board midway through the 3rd period starting with a partial break by Emily Friendorf who then passed off to Teagan Vinke. Teagan would score on a quick, hard release toward the Burlington net minder. The Wolverines would go into shutdown mode and play the remainder of the game in the offensive and neutral zones.
The Wolverines would end up posting 16 Goals For and 1 Goal Against over 5 games in the tournament thanks to strong play by the entire team at both ends of the ice. The tournament MVP award went to goaltender Kasey Livingstone who registered 4 shutouts.