Nov 26, 2012 | tonyh | 387 views
Rocks make Semi-Finals of Guelph Powerplay Tournament
The Hespeler Major Atom A Shamrocks advanced to the semi-finals of the local Guelph Powerplay tournament on the strength of their 2-2 round robin record and their superior 'goals for' percentage.
Faced with two challenging games to begin the tournament against teams ranked higher than them, the Shamrocks fell 2-1 to the Kitchener Jr Rangers and 3-1 to the Barrie Colts.
This left the Rocks with the unenviable task of needing to win their final 2 games and creating lots of offence!
Fortunately the boys did not disappoint!!!! Their third game was against an over-matched team from West Ferris (North Bay) that resulted in an 8-0 win for the Rocks.
The game was an opportunity for some of the players to try different positions which is always a nice change. Credit to all the boys for willingly accepting these changes and supporting their teammates!
Going into their last game of the round-robin against the Guelph Jr. Storm, neither the coaches nor parents were entirely sure that a semi-final birth was possible. However, if it was possible everyone knew that the Rocks would have to score.
And score they did putting up 8 goals enroute to an 8-6 victory. The boys once again showed excellent character rebounding from a 4-2 deficit to quickly take the lead and hang on for the win.
The result set off a flurry of BBM exchanges between parents, that discussed the various rules of the tournament and speculation as to whether we would play or not.
At approximately 730pm on Saturday night we learned that the Shamrocks had in fact made the semi-finals and would play the recently promoted to AA North London Nationals. It should be noted as well that the Nationals up to their promotion were the top-ranked Major Atom A team in the province.
In one of their best games of the year, the Rocks gave the Nationals everything they could handle before ultimately falling 1-0.
The game saw chances at both ends of the rink and excellent goaltending for the Shamrocks but unfortunately the puck could not find its way to the back of the London goal.
Regardless, the Rocks had a fantastic tournament and exited the ice to a chorus of cheers from their many fans who had packed (into a small section) the Sleeman Centre.
Player accolades go out to Daniel "D" Turco for his all-around effort in all five games of the tournament!!!! Turco created scoring chances for himself and his linemates; was often the first forward back in his own zone to help in the defensive zone; and even put an opposing North London National player on his behind as the two players collided!
D's agent, Joe Turco agreed to let his client be interviewed after the tournament. An excerpt is below....
Reporter: "Daniel you just gave one of the best teams in the province a great game...how do you feel right now?".
D: "Happy"
Reporter: "What did Coach Terry have to say to the team after the game?"
D: "He said 'we played good'. He said we still have some things that we need to work on but he was pretty happy too"
Reporter: "D, when you got that penalty, did you see your little brother Luca come over to the penalty box?"
D: (laughing) "yeah, I saw him!"
Reporter: "Could you hear what he was saying to you?"
D: (still laughing) "yeah, he said 'D, you play hockey?'"
Reporter: "That's awesome! Do you think he's going to turn out to be a goon or do you think he'll just play hockey"
D: "I think he'll just play hockey!"
I think D is right. From time to time sitting in the penalty box due to being aggressive is not necessarily a bad thing. But certainly from a team stand-point, D and all the boys do their best work when they're on the ice!!!!
Great job D and thanks for the fantastic interview!!!!
And congrats to all the Major Atom A Shamrocks on a fantastic tournament!!!
The Rocks next game is Wednesday Nov 28th vs Guelph Jr Storm at 7pm in Hespeler.