November
10th -12th turned out to be an exciting and memorable
weekend for the Pelham Atom BB Kirkpatrick Stoneworks Panthers team as they participated
in the Beaverloch Farms Tournament hosted by the Thorold Amateur Athletic
Association.
The Pelham boys started off slow in their opening game losing by a
score of 3-0 to the hometown favourites, Thorold Blackhawks.
Undeterred, they came back with gusto in the afternoon to face the Wallaceburgh Lakers. After being down 3-1 going into the 3rd period, the squad pulled off an impressive 5-3 come from behind victory.
Waking up fresh Saturday morning, and with lots of confidence, the team faced their cross-region rivals the Niagara-on-the-lake Wolves, and in a stellar fashion came back from a 1-0 deficit to handily earn a 3-1 victory.
With just enough time to go home and get some needed nourishment, the boys returned to the barn to face-off against the Petrolia Oilers. In another classic “come from behind” story, the boys down 3-0 scored three well-earned goals to tie up the game in the third period. Petrolia again took the lead with minutes remaining in the third, but Pelham assertively answered back with a quick goal to walk away with a nail-biting 4-4 tie.
Heading into the Sunday morning match-up against the Collingwood Blackhawks, the Panthers were looking for a decisive win to clinch a spot in the championship final. Collingwood came out hot and scored the first goal early in the first period, but Pelham kept skating and tied it up early in the third. With two minutes remaining on the clock Pelham took the lead and followed up with an insurance goal with under a minute remaining in the third.
At the Championship final, Pelham faced off against the Thorold Blackhawks once again but our boys were determined to have a different outcome. After the first period puck drop, Thorold scored two goals in the first period despite a strong showing by defence. Without giving up Pelham kept most of the play in the Thorold end for the second but couldn’t connect with the back of the net in the second period. Midway through the third period, Pelham score two decisive goals to tie up the game and keep it a nail-biter. Thorold responded with what they thought would be the game winner, but Pelham answered back to tie the game at three apiece and send it into overtime.
After ten minutes of high action hockey drama on the ice, the score remained tied at three all. As per tournament rules there would be a shoot-out to determine the winner. An exciting final game got even more exciting as the Panther boys scored three top cheese shoot-out goals as Thorold was expertly and completely denied scoring at all. Congratulations to the Pelham Atom BB Kirkpatrick Stonework team as they tirelessly earned the championship trophy for the Beaverloch tournament!