By Spencer Seymour
Seldom was there a dull moment during the Nov. 15-17 Owen Sound Silver Stick tournament, from which the St. Marys Building Centre U12 A Boys St. Marys Rock left with the gold medal.
Head coach Merlin Malinowski was ecstatic with his team’s success at the tournament.
“It was so fun to see them celebrate after winning it all,” Malinowski told the Independent. “They were beside themselves. They worked really hard and played so well as a team, so it was nice to see them reap the reward because they deserved it.”
The Rock marched through the three-game round-robin without losing and outscored their opponents by a total of 13-4 in their three wins. Malinowski explained that his team got strong play from every part of their lineup.
“Our team is so well-balanced,” Malinowski said. “We have great goaltending. Lucas (Savile) was the best goaltender in the tournament. We defend really well and we can get balanced scoring. If one line isn’t scoring, our other lines are capable of chipping in. That balance throughout the lineup, both offensively and defensively, is what impresses me the most about this group.”
In the semi-final, St. Marys took on the Woolwich Wildcats and withstood a late-game comeback by Woolwich to escape with a 5-4 victory and earn a spot in the gold-medal game. After going up by 5-1, the Wildcats clawed back and got within one goal, scoring with 26 seconds left in regulation to cut St. Marys’ lead to just one goal. However, the Rock managed to get the puck deep in Woolwich’s zone and keep it there long enough to run out the clock and hang on for the 5-4 victory.
The championship game featured the Rock doing battle with the New Hamburg Huskies in a fairly evenly matched, back-and-forth contest. Theo Keller scored the first St. Marys goal when he finished off a pass by Jax Parsons, who won a battle for the puck in the corner. Later in the game, Keaton Ward picked up the puck at the St. Marys blueline and flew by a Huskies’ defender to get in all alone and beat the New Hamburg netminder to put St. Marys up 2-1.
After New Hamburg tied the game at two apiece, Keller jammed home a loose puck during a net-front scramble to put St. Marys back up by one. Keller’s second goal of the game held up as the game-winner as the Rock held on for a 3-2 victory.
According to Malinowski, the tournament highlighted the team’s steady improvement in many facets of their structural play.
“We've been talking about doing some things in various situations on the ice, whether that’s in the neutral zone, in our end without the puck, how we want to defend and our powerplay break out, and we’re starting to see them do those things and believe in those systems. It’s great to see us take a step forward in that way because if they continue to buy into what we’re preaching, we are going to be a really tough team to play against,” the coach said.
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