Great effort
Pictou County bantam teams reach crossovers at 35th annual memorial tournament
Pictou County bantam A and AA teams turned in strong results, advancing to playoff crossover games at the 35th annual memorial tournament at the PCWC.
WESTVILLE ROAD, N.S. — The final result wasn’t quite what they wanted, but both Pictou County bantam teams fared well at the annual memorial hockey tournament, held Feb. 1-3.
“We were hoping we would be able to win the whole tournament,” said bantam AA coach Mike Lochead.
“Those three crossover teams from New Brunswick were very good, very skilled and well-coached. We lost to a team that went on to win, so we weren’t too far off.”
The bantam AA club started the tournament with a 6-2 win over Cape Breton West, followed that with a resounding 13-1 victory over Northside (Cape Breton), and ended the round robin by beating Dieppe 4-2.
After winning those roundrobin games, Pictou County lost 3-2 in a crossover game to the eventual tournament champion Northwest Pioneers, also from New Brunswick.
Lane Lochead and Kirk Turnbull had goals for the bantam AAs, who fell behind early 2-0 and were outshout 10-1 in the first period.
Logan Crosby led all bantam AA scorers during the tournament and was named an all-star, as were Lane Lochead and Brent Chapman.
This was the 35th year for the memorial tournament, held to honour three bantam-aged players (Donald Gladwin, Shawn McKay and John Allan MacDonald), as well as Shawn’s mother Marie McKay, all of whom died in a highway crash in early 1984.
“There were large crowds around the rink and the organizing committee did an awesome job,” Lochead stated.
“Everything was well-run, and there were lots of positive comments from the other teams.”
BANTAM A TEAM ALSO MAKES CROSSOVERS
Pictou County’s bantam A squad also made it to a crossover game, but lost 1-0 to the Halifax Hawks in a game that saw the locals own a distinct territorial advantage.
“Our players were a little upset, we had a good chance to win the whole tournament,” said coach Victor Melanson. “But we made some noise (and) it was a great showing all weekend.”
The bantam A team opened the tournament with a 4-3 loss to the Straight-Richmond Pirates, but regrouped to win two games in a row, starting with a 4-2 victory over the Bedford Blues on Friday night.
The next day against Riverview, Pictou County had to win by three or more goals to ensure they’d advance to crossovers, and came up with a 6-2 victory, scoring two goals late to avoid having to wait for results from other games.
“You just have to battle, persevere,” said Melanson of facing the prospect of what was, in essence, a two-goal deficit before the game even started.
“That’s what teams are about – coming together to battle through it.”
Forward Dawson MacKay was named a tournament all-star in the A division.