Novice B Ice Kats win championship on home ice
Team finishes tournament 5-0, 9-0 in league play
The Peterborough Matt Temple RBC Dominion Securities Novice B Ice Kats wouldn’t be denied a championship on home ice.
The Carleton Place Cyclones scored two quick goals to close within 3-2 of the Ice Kats in the second period of the Novice B final at the Evinrude Centre in the 38th Peterborough Girls’ Hockey Association Ice Kats Tournament. That’s when the Ice Kats kicked it up a gear. Just 45 seconds later the score was 5-2 thanks to two Ice Kats goals 15 seconds apart. They rolled on to a 10-2 win. They finished the tournament 5-0 and are 9-0 in league play.
“It’s special because we won our own tournament,” said Addison Hulsman. “It made us feel like we could actually win and feel confident.”
Ice Kats’ coach Darryll Hancock said his team’s goal is to get better every game. They didn’t make the playoffs of their first tournament in Oshawa, reached the semifinals in Clarington and picked up the win on the weekend confirming their progress.
“They’ve been building up all season,” said Hancock. “We had a tough time in our first tournament. We showed a lot of improvement in Clarington about a month later. We made it to the semis and lost a tough game in a shootout. The girls were really looking forward to taking a step in this one. They talked about how excited they were to get a chance to play on Sunday on their home turf and in front of their family and friends. I think they played their best game of the tournament today which is what we were shooting for.”
Hancock praised his girls for responding when pushed.
“It was a really good sign that we responded really well after those two goals and kept coming back at them. I’m really proud of them for that,” he said.
Mackenna Hancock scored four goals for the Ice Kats in the final with two each to Truley Simpson, Addison Moher and Mya Clare Marshall.
Four Ice Kats teams reached finals in the 90-team, 20-division tournament which ran Friday through Sunday on all six city ice pads. Two area teams, the Otonabee Wolverines peewee C and Ennismore Eagles atom house league teams won their divisions.
The Wolverines avenged a 1-0 loss in round-robin play by defeating their arch rival Peterborough Peewee C Ice Kats 3-0 in the final to go 3-1-1 overall. Madeline Wannamaker scored two goals for Otonabee and Avery Florence one while Rebecca MacDonald notched the shutout.
“For a lot of these girls it’s their first time playing with girls,” said Otonabee coach Lisa Fertile. “They’ve always played with the boys so this is their first year on an all-girls team. They think that’s special. We have some brand new players and this is really going to lift their spirits because they really helped out in this win, too.”
“We lost to Peterborough in the first game and it feels really good to beat them in the championship,” said Wannamaker. “It’s exciting to win as a team. We all have a good attitude and we love the game of hockey. It’s fun to experiment with different plays and figure out what works for us.”
The Peterborough Kirkwood Ice Kats won the novice house league championship beating the Flamborough Falcons 1-0 in the final.
The Peterborough Senior BB Ice Kats lost in the senior A final to the Chatham Chill 3-1.
In the atom house league final, the Ennismore Eagles defeated the Clarington Flames 1-0.
Full tournament results can be found at www.pgha.net under the tournament link.