Peewee C girls win silver
Wow, what a season. The Leveque Brothers / Rock Breakers Peewee girls came to fruition in the spring of 2016 combining girls from Bancroft, Haliburton, Minden, Wilberforce and Marmora. When they stepped on the ice for their first tournament in September they played liked they had been a team forever and continued that way all season long.
This past weekend the girls travelled to the GTA to participate in the OWHA provincials bringing the top 16 peewee C girls teams together to battle it out for the title of all Ontario Champs. The Jets faced off against the South Huron Sabres in an 8 a.m. game on Friday. Early morning games had not been our friend all year but the girls dug down deep and pulled out a great 3-0 win to start the tournament and to get the pre-tournament nerves out of the way. Goals scored by Megan Jenkins and Peyton Armstrong (2) with assists going to Chloe “Fireball” Billings, Ava Smith and Hailey Hudder.
The second game saw the girls come up against the Brockville Angels. It was a hard-fought battle back and forth with the girls coming up with a 4-4 tie. Goals scored by Elyse Ives (2), Billings and Armstrong, assists going to H. Hudder (2), Armstrong (2) and Avery Coens. Game 3 of the tournament was a much-needed tie or win position to be able to advance as they matched up against the Lucan Irish. The girls knew the importance of the game and stepped it up to pull out a very dominant 4-0 win. Goals scored by Olivia Villamere, Ryan Rupnow and Armstrong (2) with assists going to Jenkins, Ives and Rupnow. With the win, the girls moved into the quarter finals to face the Goulbourn Rockets, a team that beat us previously this season in the Peterborough tournament. Knowing the hard game that was ahead of them, the girls came out firing on all cylinders to give the fans a very exciting game that needed overtime to decide the outcome.
2:51 into the overtime period, after a fantastic save by Bella Smolen for the Jets, Elyse Ives fired one past the Rockets’ goalie to set the crowd and bench into a huge celebration knowing the girls were off to semifinals with the 3-2 win. Goals scored in regulation were by Villamere and Emma Tidey with the assists going to Rupnow and Tidey.
The semi-final game Sunday morning was against the Walkerton Capitals who the girls faced the previous weekend and had a score to settle with them. Again, feeling the pressure of an early morning game the girls found another level to compete on and put on show for their fans with a 4-0 win to send them too the finals. Goals scored by Rupnow, Armstrong (2) and Tidey with assists going to Villamere, H.Hudder (2), Coens (2), Smith and Ives.
The final game was against a very strong, fast Timmins team who had a bit more juice left in the tank than we did. The Jets played with everything they had and left it all on the ice making their coaches, families and fans very proud. They came up short with a 4-0 loss, one empty net goal, but did not hang their heads as they accepted their silver medals placing second in All Ontario. Bella Smolen, the Jets goalie, played phenomenally all weekend coming up with huge saves and was large in charge in the net.
What an amazing season these girls had. Thank you to the coaches, families, fans and to the Leveque Brothers and Rock Breakers for being such amazing sponsors, it would not have been possible without all the support we received.
Submitted by Melissa Armstrong
