Searles says a lot with a little
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Mathew Searles managed to convey a whole lot while saying comparatively little.
"Never give up - on the team or yourself," said the Tillsonburg Underhill's AE Peewee defenceman following a 5-1 loss to Huntsville in the Securitas Bob Tansley Memorial AE Tournament Sunday afternoon inside the Colin Campbell Arena. "That's all I've got."
Searles hadn't given up, nor had his Underhill's AE peewee teammates, although he had to concede they were in tough against a strong squad based out of the gateway to Algonquin Park.
"They had a good goalie and one very good forward line," said Searles, reaching to find a little more. "We have one whole good team, we never give up on ourselves and we never give up on our whole team."
'Never giving up' translated into hanging around against Huntsville well into the third period of the final. Tillsonburg trailed 3-0 after two periods, before getting a boost as captain Mackenzie Baird found the back of the net, on the breakaway from a sharp angle just 30 seconds into the third.
"Just sort of shot it and I guess I got lucky," said Board, who sniped the puck between the goalie's arm and leg, on the left (stick) side.
The game remained in doubt until Huntsville's Taylor Cottrill notched his team's fourth goal with 6:43 to play in regulation time. Matthew Markle rounded the 5-1 final with just over three minutes remaining in a game in which Tillsonburg skated hard to the final buzzer.
"If you give up on yourself, you can't do as well as we did this tournament," said Baird.
The Underhill's AE peewees opened the draw Friday morning with 4-0 victory over Ayr, which said coach Ron VanDoninck, may well have been their best game of the tournament.
"The kids were just on fire."
Tillsonburg skated to a 4-4 draw with Plattsville in its second round-robin game, a disappointing result in that Tillsonburg gave up two goals in the final 1:51 of regulation time. Austin Black paced the attack with two goals, Cole Hicks and Baird added a goal and an assist apiece, Aiden Ketchabaw two helpers and Jacob Bailey and Blake Van Louwe an assist each.
The Underhill's AE peewees suffered a 6-4 loss to Huntsville in their final round-robin action, giving up four third-period goals after carrying a 4-2 lead into the final frame.
Baird and Ketchabaw led Tillsonburg offensively with a pair of goals apiece and Mark Locker, Sean Battin, Jack Moore, Bailey, Hicks, Van Louwe and Searles each had one assist.
The Underhill's AE peewees rebounded with a solid 3-1 semi-final win over Dorchester to set up a rematch in the tourney final.
"We worked hard to make the semis," said VanDoninck, noting Sunday morning’s victory had been tough, but productive in the sense Tillsonburg built - and held onto - a lead. "We learned how to close out a game."
The final appearance was the first for the Underhill's AE peewees, who impressed the coaching staff both with their play and timing, considering Silver Stick regional qualifying action is close on the horizon the first full weekend of December.
"This is what we want, the kids are coming together at a good time," VanDoninck concluded. "Happy with the way things are working out."