Horvath Auto peewees take silver at Silver Stick
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Playing in their biggest hockey tournament of the season, the Tillsonburg Horvath Auto Peewee Lightning C girls came up with a solid silver performance.
The Horvath Auto peewees won silver medals at the 2013 Saugeen Shores Peewee C Silver Stick on the weekend of Feb. 8-10.
“This was our biggest tournament of the year, it definitely carried a lot of prestige with it,” said Horvath Auto peewee coach Mike Skinner. “The girls were excited to play in it.”
With a major winter storm brewing on the Friday, some of the team made the trip to the Port Elgin area Thursday, some Friday.
“The majority of us drove up Friday,” said Skinner. “The roads were challenging at times. Some people went early to try to get ahead of the storm, and drove right into it. Later in the morning, by the time we were north of London, the plows had a chance to get out. It was a slow-go, but there were some clear spots for us.”
Everyone was on time for Game 1, however, at the Southampton arena, a 3-0 loss to Lambeth.
“Lambeth was a strong team,” credited Skinner.
The Lightning rebounded with three straight shutout victories – 5-0 over Petrolia in Paisley, 1-0 over Mount Forest back in Southampton, and 3-0 against Saugeen Shores.
Both Tillsonburg goalies – Alyson Moylan and Amelia Skinner – were in net for Silver Stick shutouts. Moylan earned two shutouts, and Skinner, who was in net for three of the five games, had one shutout.
“The goalies did a great job and when they had to make a stop they came through for us,” said coach Skinner.
“Our girls peewee team has solid defence. We’re a very defensive team and other teams always comment on our strong defensive play – both our goaltending, and our defence, which stands up pretty good at the bluelines. It’s hard to get good shots on us.”
Offensively the Horvath Auto peewees are finding their groove.
“Our offence definitely was strong in the tournament. They started putting some points up on the board to give us confidence going into the final game against Lambeth.
“And goals were coming from a lot of different girls. There was no individual effort, we played as a team.”
The rematch with Lambeth was much, much closer.
“In the first game we came out slow in the first period, and in the second and third we were pretty even. As we built our confidence in the tournament we were ready to face them again in the finals.”
Sunday’s championship final, a 3-1 Lambeth win on Feb. 10, was tied 1-1 in the second period. Lambeth had opened the scoring, Tillsonburg tied it, then Lambeth went ahead 2-1, still in the second.
“A much tighter game the second time around. It was very tight hockey until late in the third period when they got their third one.”
PLAYOFFS
Tillsonburg’s OWHA round-robin playoffs continue tonight (Wednesday) at home to BAD (7 p.m.). It’s a must-win game for the Lightning who are seeking to win their three-team pool.
The Horvath Auto peewees lost 3-2 to Ingersoll, then tied Ingersoll 1-1. Last Thursday Tillsonburg shut out BAD 1-0 in Aylmer.
Ingersoll finished its round robin with a 1-0-3 record (5 pts). With a win tonight, Tillsonburg would have a 2-1-1 record (also 5 pts) but more wins and would advance to a regional best-of-three against another pool winner, with that winner moving on to the Provincial C Tournament in April.
In Lower Lakes Female Hockey League (LLFHL) playoffs, Tillsonburg had a bye in the first round. Their second-round series starts next week.
“We had a really good run in the season. We finished in second place – we were battling back and forth for first with Milverton. A couple wins fell by the side that probably could have been victories, but a very successful year.”