The Image Landscaping Quinte West U15A Golden Hawks steamrolled through Barrie!
The Image Landscaping Quinte West U15A Golden Hawks steamrolled through Barrie and took home the Championship Belt at the Peggy Hill Classic A Tournament. Yes, that is right, a belt! The Hawks completed their quest in dominating fashion going 5-0-1 during the tournament. There was plenty of scoring for the team, the goals for/against ratio was 28/5 for the Golden Hawks.
The 4-game Round-Robin action:
Game 1: QW Golden Hawks vs Barrie Junior Colts (White), ended in a 2-2 tie.
Game 2: QW Golden Hawks vs Burlington Eagles, shutout win for the Hawks 4-0.
Game 3: QW Golden Hawks vs Hespler Shamrocks, ended in another shutout win 6-0.
Game 4: QW Golden Hawks vs Sudbury Timberwolves, the Hawks dominated with a 10-1 win.
The Playoff Round:
Semi-final matchup, was the Golden Hawks vs Norfolk Knights. The Hawks cruised to victory with final score 4-1.
The Championship game was against the Barrie Junior Colts (White), the Hawks took home the Championship, winning with a 2-1 nail-bitter.
Weekend Recap
There were many memorable moments during the tournament, too many to recount. However, the Top 10 moments of the U15A Hawks path to Champion status includes:
1. As the kids say, Keegan Carr’s goal in the 1st game versus Barrie Colts White, was ‘gross’. Carr stole the puck while being shorthanded, skating past a couple Colts, then went short side, top cheese.
2. Tate Webb’s hitting prowess is nothing short of impressive. Tate continued to impress with his massive hits in every game of the tournament. Of honourable mention, was his hit versus Barrie Colts during Game 1 in the 1st period. Then Webb decided to dish out a bit more pain versus Barrie late in the Championship game, in the 3rd period. After the final game of the tournament, it is rumoured that Tate Webb’s picture is now posted in the Barrie Colts arena with the words, “Beware of Webb” above his picture.
3. Colby Coe decided to showcase his stickhandling and penalty killing skills while being short handed versus the Hespler Shamrocks. When Coe’s other 3 linemates went for a change, he decided, ‘that’s okay, I’ll do this by myself’ and proceeded to go 1 versus 5 and killed off a lot of the Hawks penalty time.
4. Charlie Mooney took his secret power juice prior to the game versus the Sudbury Timberwolves. Mooney went off! Netting not 3, not 4, but 5 GOALS, paving the way for a 10-1 Hawks win. Move over, Zibanejad!
5. Brody “Brover” Pilatzke always hustles his butt off on the ice, and the star forward always impresses the cheering fans. One new trick that he displayed for the crowd, is his ninja like ability flipping the puck to the linesman after the whistle. By all accounts, he was 6-0 on his flipping attempts.
6. The checking ability of the Hawks was unmatched. The plexiglass at the Barrie Arenas were definitely tested to the max. Super hard hits were given out by Mooney, Davy, Webb, Lordy, Baird, Slone and Sills. Ethan Kenney was also on the receiving end of a hit, sidelining Kenney for a few weeks with a fractured arm. Next thing you know it, that somewhat odd New Year’s song, ‘Auld Lang Syne’ will play, people will try to sign along but not really knowing the lyrics, then you will hear Bryce Mitchell and Kenney saying, “Happy New Year, Hawks. I am back! And please, no broken bones in 2022”.
7. Eli Davis brought his typical ‘Marchand-like’ energy during the tournament. Davis gave out a lot of hits and drew key penalties when the other team retaliated against him. One such altercation took place in the semi-final versus Norfolk. Davis gave a big hit against a Knight, then Norolk retaliated, the cross-check resulted in his spine contorted the opposite way it should go, pushing his head into the players bench, next to the Score Keeper. Following a quick chat with the Score Keeper while his head was pushed back, and the opposing player’s stick across his chest, Davis drew the penalty. After a quick water break, Davis was back out looking for the next hit to give out.
8. Jacob Brummell’s toughness was on display during the tournament, he was on the receiving end of a few hits but got back up and returned the goodwill. Brummell was tagged with a 1 game suspension during the tournament, but that did not shake his determination. He stuck with his game plan and contributed on the offensive end with a beauty goal versus Burlington and had some key assists.
9. As usual, the tendies for the Hawks were stellar between the pipes. The dynamic-duo of Carson Down and Dryden Riley never disappointed. They both made incredible saves down the stretch. Most notable were, Riley in the semi-final versus Norfolk stopped a breakaway attempt, killing the Knight’s momentum. Then Down killed Barrie’s attempts to tie up the game late in Championship Game, bringing home the big win and Championship!
10. Jack Andrews decided to take out one of his Shinny hockey moves during the Championship Game versus Barrie Colts. Andrews was somehow left alone in front of the net, and put in the game winning goal with an in between the leg thriller! McDavid who?! Andrews’ goal solidified the 2-1 victory and he took home the Game MVP award for that nasty little bit of trickery.
During the post tournament presser, star forward Cole Baird was asked, “how did you prepare for the games during the tournament?” Baird responded with, “I like to play mystery bio-steel while I listen to sick tunes played by DJ Jack Andrews.” Baird was also asked, “why do you think your team won the tournament?” He responded with, “we won because of a strong defensive team effort, solid goal tending and great coaching!”
The U15A Golden Hawks will face off against the Peterborough Pete’s on Thursday, 02 December at home (Duncan McDonald) at 8pm. Then the team will be on the road Saturday, 04 December versus the North Durham Warriors at 6pm.