Orillia Hawks Multicare Bantam “A” Capture Gold in U.S.A.
Submitted By OGHA on Tuesday, November 18, 2014
Orillia Hawks Multicare Bantam “A” Capture Gold in U.S.A. Read more for full article.
The Multi Care Group, Orillia Hawks Bantam “A” girl’s hockey team came away in top spot at the Rochester New York, Fire on Ice, College Showcase Tournament this past weekend. The tournament hosts 170 of the top North American female hockey teams from U12 to U19 age groups.
Orillia opened the tournament on Friday morning against the Hershey Pennsylvania Bears and came away with a commanding 7-0 victory. Katrina Trott led the way for Orillia with a hat trick. Single markers went to Erin Parna Gile, Paige Larock, Claire Fletcher and Tianna Reda. Alyssa Gonneau added a pair of assists with Fletcher and Brooke Elbers each setting up one goal. Paige Stachura came away with the shut out.
In their second game of the day, Orillia faced the New Jersey Colonials. From the opening face- off Orillia came out strong, outskating their opponents on offence and setting up a stifling defense which let them come away with a 3-0 victory. Hannah Davis, Fletcher and Gonneau scored for the Hawks while Rhiannon Crichton, Eryn Babcock and Larock added the helpers. Maddison Kennedy goaltended the shut out for Orillia
On Saturday morning the Hawks faced the Long Island Lady Islanders a very aggressive team from New York. The Orillia girls played disciplined fast hockey, capitalizing on the Islanders penalties and forcing a 5-0 win. Erin Parna Gile fired home 2 goals and added an assist. Hannah Davis, Carly Davis and Babcock rounded out the scoring. Fletcher with 2, Crichton, Trott, Gonneau, Hannah Davis and Elora Chestnut added the assists. Stachura, between the pipes, earned her second shut-out of the tournament.
Saturday evening, facing the Syracuse Blazers the Orillia girls couldn’t keep the tempo of their previous 3 games going and lost 5-1. Trott scored the lone marker for the Hawks. This loss and their 3 win 1 loss record eventually dropped the girls from their first place standing to third place in the nine team pool.
At the conclusion of Saturday’s games, the stage was set for the semi-final round to take place on Sunday. First place, undefeated, North Halton Twisters were playing Syracuse and second place, undefeated, Scarborough Sharks were facing the Orillia squad.
Orillia came out firing on all cylinders in the semi-final game against Scarborough taking a 4-0 lead before Scarborough was able to produce a pair in the final frame. Orillia’s Babcock scored an empty netter with 44 seconds left to seal the 5-2 victory. The Hawks line of Babcock, 2 goals and 2 assists, Trott 2 goals and Gonneau 1 goal and 3 assists created havoc for Scarborough, scoring all the goals for Orillia. Defenceman, Elbers also picked up an assist.
Advancing to Championship game Sunday afternoon Orillia was determined to bring home the banner against North Halton who had defeated Syracuse 2-1 in their semi-final match. Both teams brought a fast paced skating approach to the game as the play continually went end to end. Stachura in net for Orillia and the Twisters goalie both stood on their head throughout the match stopping what appeared to be sure goals. Orillia’s Alyssa Gonneau broke the deadlock for Orillia during a scramble in front of the opposing net three quarters of the way through the first period. Orillia kept that slim lead into the final frame when Halton tied the game. The end to end battle ensued until Katrina Trott taking a clearing, centering pass from the Orillia end broke in on a breakaway scoring on the low stick side of the Twisters netminder with 1:09 remaining in the game. Orillia bottled up Halton at centre and at Halton’s end of the ice for the remainder of the frame winning 2-1. At the conclusion of the game and after receiving the championship banner, the tournament Convenor noted that this was the best hockey game that he had watched throughout the weekend thus far.
Coach Bobby Babcock and Assistant Coach Jeff Davis were very proud of the play of their team throughout the tournament. Babcock stated, “the girls played their hearts out all weekend. Through their hard work, determination and disciplined play they were the champions in one of the top international hockey tournaments in the United States. I am sure they are going to have some memories from this tournament that will last a lifetime.”