Peewees get 'tough hockey love'
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The Tillsonburg Oldtimer Peewees got a little 'tough hockey love' in the PK Construction Inc. Roy Beechey Memorial Rep Tournament last weekend.
"We learned that Petrolia is a really good team," said Tillsonburg goalie Raine Steadman following a 4-1 loss in the championship final.
Tillsonburg learned there are a number of good teams out there, added coach Jeff Holman. And after heading into their hometown tourney undefeated in Southern Counties Minor Hockey Association league play, facing tough competition and a reality check, a form of 'tough hockey love' if you will was painful in the moment, but productive in the long term, he suggested.
"We had a tough weekend, we played some stronger teams than we've seen so far this year, which was good for our learning curve."
Tillsonburg opened its round-robin draw on the wrong end of a 2-1 decision to Lambeth, battling back from a 2-0 first-period deficit on a second-frame goal by Dylan Holman, assisted by Mathew Fabi and Kenny Coyle.
The Oldtimer peewees then faced Petrolia for the first time on the weekend, coming out on the wrong end of a 5-1 final. Braydon Verschueren got the home side on the board in the second period, assisted by Riley Balazs and Landon Partlo.
Tillsonburg was outgunned 7-5 by Strathroy to close out round-robin play, closing to within two goals at the final buzzer via a pair of late third-period markers. Verschueren paced the attack with a pair of goals, Josiah Vangurp added a goal and two assists, Ethyn Brown and Holman contributed singles and Landon Partlo, Mathew Fabi, Logan Savoy and Logan Partlo had assists.
The Oldtimer peewees' timing exceeded their winning percentage thus far, with a solid 2-1 win over Glanbrook in their semi-final meeting. Balazs got the home side on the board at the 1:34 mark of the first period, with help from Brown. Savoy scored what would stand as the game-winner with 5:18 left to play in the second, assisted by Holman and Fabi.
Petrolia's Logan McLinchey opened scoring with 31 seconds to play in the final's first period, and teammate Elijgh Duquette upped the advantage to two with 2:18 left in the second. Brown responded for Tillsonburg, cutting around a Petrolia defender and skating in alone on net, before picking the top, left corner with a sniper's shot.
"That's where I wanted to shoot it," he said.
Steadman's solid play helped keep Tillsonburg within a goal against a strong opponent for much of the duration.
"He has come a long, long way for us," credited coach Holman. "He made some key saves at the right time."
The one-goal lead lived through much of the third period before Duquette added an insurance marker 2:18 prior to the final buzzer, rounding a hat-trick 42 seconds later.
Despite the widening gap, Tillsonburg played hard to the final buzzer.
"We just kept going, trying to get goals," said Brown.
On the face of it, one could look at the tournament as a 1-4 overall record, or, as Steadman agreed, suffering a tough loss in the championship game.
"We lost a close game in the final."
Beyond that, the tournament provided five quality games and a chance for Tillsonburg to not only learn something about the opposition, including a potential OMHA BB rival from Petrolia, but also something about themselves.
"This kind of puts us back into reality of what we need to work on," Holman concluded. "And also puts into reality we need a whole team to get the job done."