The Peewee Girls HL were in action this weekend in the Orangeville Tiger Sweat Heart tournament. This weekend would be full of many different learning experiences for the girls as well some great hockey played by all the Ram girls. The ending wasn't the result the Rams wanted with bringing home the Silver Medals but, with many of the girls never being in these types of situations and some being quite a bit younger than the competition, they certainly did give a Gold medal performance.
The Rams started tournament off with one game on Friday matched up with the Caledon Coyotes. The Rams looked a little nervous in this game but, carried most of the play throughout the game. With 2 goals by Brianna Gorman and a Player of the game performance by Mackenzie Burke the Rams took first game 2-0.
The girls were back in action Early Saturday morning with a 9am start vs Brantford. With a slow start to this game and the girls showing some effects of an early morning game/drive, the girls found their scoring touch in the third and skated to a 5-1 victory. Scoring for the Rams was Brianna Gorman with two, Karlee Rice with one, Avery Moyer with one and Rounding out the scoring was Cassidy North with her first goal from an unassisted end to end rush. This also had her earn player of the game voted by Ram players. Assists went to Kaylean Morgan, Avery Moyer, Karlee Rice
The third game of the tournament had the Rams faced off with the Orangeville Blue team Saturday evening. The Rams had a long lay over between games and with dinner and a movie had the Rams not flying around the ice like normal but, they battled hard and kept pushing forward and came out on top with 2-0 shutout win. Karlee Rice netted both goals for the Rams with the lone assist going to Avery Moyer. With a strong performance during this game Raychel Duncan earned the teams Offensive award.
Sunday Morning was another early 9:30am start and this time it was against the undefeated Mississauga squad. The Rams found themselves down early and never recovered with a difficult 3-0 loss. This learning experience taught the girls they have to be ready to play and play the whole game. They also learned how hard you have to work to compete.
After the round robin the girls found themselves with an impressive 3-1 record and sitting second overall in their pool or 5 teams. The girls knew the day was going to be long with another two games to go. First stop for the ladies was a stop in the semi-final against a tough/hardworking Kitchener team. With the Rams and Rangers exchanging goals in the first period had the game going into second period knotted at 1-1. The second period was back and forth with Mackenzie Burke having an All star performance between the pipes keeping the game tied for the Rams. The start of the third was much of the same, a lot of strong battles and strong board play had the Rams keeping pace with the bigger/stronger Rangers. With 2:21 left in the third Karlee Rice sent a perfect pass over to Brianna Gorman who crashed the net and touched in her own rebound to give the Rams a late third period lead. In the last two minutes and throughout the game strong battling in and around our net from Allison Moyer, Josie Mussleman, Cassidy North, Macy Howes, Isabelle Zekas and Felicity Koeslag had the Rams able to hold on to their lead for a 2-1 victory and a date with Mississauga in the final. Goals for the Rams were Avery Moyer ( shorthanded) and Brianna Gorman.
The final game had the girls with one thing on their mind. They had learned from their earlier 3-0 loss to Mississauga as they were at rink early and getting prepared for game. Mount Forest came out strong and showed everyone they were their to play this game. Mississauga took a early 1-0 lead on a broken play that quickly turned into a breakaway but, the Rams not like previous game didn't let that phase them and kept to the plan and equaled the score before the end of the first. The second period was an exciting game of hockey back and forth, chances at both ends but, ended with the score still tied 1-1. The start of the third was a continuation of the second with how exciting it was. With approximately 6 min left in game Rams got called for a questionable paly. On the ensuing power play the puck squeaked out to the slot for a one timer goal for Mississauga and a late 2-1 lead. Once again the girls didn't give up and kept battling hard and were granted a power play of their own. After a short shift on the power play Coach Matt called a time out with 2:30 left in the period. A set play was drawn up for the girls to execute when getting procession of the puck. When the girls got the puck they executed the play perfectly but, the shot from the slot hit the goalie in the facemask and bounced out of play. That's as close as the girls would get and when the buzzer went the final score was 2-1 for Mississauga and had the Rams taking home the Silver medals. Score goal for the Rams was Karlee Rice assisted by Kiesten Gorman who also earned player of the game. Others with strong play this game were Emme Zemmelink, Maddie Reeves, Landis King, Raychel Duncan and Kaylean Morgan.
This was a very positive weekend had by the Rams and their hard work and team spirit was very awesome to see and be a part of.
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