The Peewee LL Wolverines played in the
Kitchener Girls Local League Championship game on April 7th in
Kitchener against Waterloo Ravens 3.
Before the Wolverines could play in the
Championship game though, they would match up against the 1st place
Grand River Mustangs 2 as the underdog in the semi-final. All three games the teams had played head-to-head
this season had been close matches; however the Wolverines had been unable to
beat their opponent. The Wolverines
would not be fazed by this statistic though and ended up playing the best team
game of the entire season!
After the 1st period, the teams were deadlocked at 0-0 with the Wolverines carrying the majority of the play to the surprise and frustration of their opponent. Entering the 2nd period, it became obvious there was more urgency in the Mustangs game as they came out stronger than the first period, however the Wolverines would have the answer at any attempt to get some offence going and the teams would enter the 3rd period still knotted at 0-0. The Mustangs would give the Wolverines a scare midway thru the 3rd period on a breakaway attempt; however the Wolverine goaltender, Kasey Livingstone, showed she was up for the challenge and kept them off the board. In the final minutes of the game, both teams would take their timeouts to rest up their skaters and get ready for the final showdown in regulation. It wasn’t until the dying seconds of the 3rd period when Faith Appleton would carry the puck deep into the Mustangs corner and then cut hard to the net along the goal line and with the goaltender giving up no space down low, she roofed it into the top corner over the goaltender with only 0:11 seconds remaining in regulation! The Mustangs would still manage two quality scoring chances before the final buzzer went and the Wolverines making every attempt to protect their net. The Wolverines executed exactly as planned for this game, with Faith, Teagan and Jadyn absolutely owning the face off dot; the wingers (Emma, Charlee, Maddy, Emmie, Rowyn and Sophie) were aggressive during play; the defensive group of Devin, Lauryn, Claire, Aleah, Emily and Olivia made it difficult for their opponent to get open around the net and the goaltending by Kasey was lights out!
During the postgame talk, the coaches referred to each player’s whiteboard commitment before the game - “I will try my best!” …and they truly had.
In the Finals, the Wolverines would play against the Waterloo Ravens 3. The Wolverines had some 2nd half struggles against this team. In the two matches they played, they had lost 3-2 and tied 2-2.
The Wolverines would come into the game energized and would not let the past cloud what they wanted to accomplish that day. The Wolverines would open the scoring less than two minutes into the Final with a goal by Faith that was a carbon copy of the one she netted in the semi-final and the Wolverines would hold a 1-0 lead at the end of the 1st period. The Ravens would get on the board midway thru the 2nd period though and then Teagan Vinke would end up finding their net on the very next face off to put the Wolverines back on top 2-1 to enter the 3rd period. Waterloo would not go away during the 3rd period, scoring a goal to even it up and then taking the lead with only 2:26 to go in regulation. The Wolverines would call their timeout with a little over 2 minutes remaining to talk game plan and they would use a familiar cheer this season before heading the face off dot – “Resilience”. With the puck deep in the opponents end, the Wolverines goaltender took off for the bench to get the extra attacker on as the Ravens were coming thru the neutral zone. The Ravens would turn over the puck where Olivia Burns would pick it up at her blue line and streak down the left side banking the puck off the boards a couple times to avoid the opponent. She then cut hard to the net and found the back of the net to tie the game at 3-3 with only 1:02 left in regulation! The teams would then enter a 5-minute overtime period of 3-on-3. The Ravens came hard with multiple shot attempts on one play right around the Wolverines net, however the goaltender managed to keep it out of the net. With a faceoff deep in the Wolverines end, the Ravens would take a penalty resulting in a penalty shot for the Wolverines. Jadyn Dolbeck was awarded the penalty shot and made it count with a last second toe drag to deke out the net minder and seal the victory and the Championship for the Wolverines
The win capped off an amazing season for this young group of girls. In addition to being League Champions, they brought home two gold medals, a silver medal and a semi-final appearance in the four tournaments they entered and memories from the season that won’t soon be forgotten!
By: Reporter Rick (Livingstone)