Jr. Rockets Bring Home The Hardware, News, Atom Rep, 2013-2014 (Strathroy Minor Hockey)

This Team is part of the 2013-2014 season, which is not set as the current season.
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Nov 25, 2013 | Ccowan | 1078 views
Jr. Rockets Bring Home The Hardware
   The Strathroy Jr. Rockets Atom Rep team brought home some hardware from the Capitals Cup Challenge in Leamington this weekend.  Battling through adversity, the boys stayed positive and continued working hard right to the end, where they would be rewarded for their efforts.

    The Rockets got off to a strong start in game 1, outshooting Owen Sound 39-12. However, they were up against a hot goaltender and couldn't seem to get any bounces going their way.  Easton Cowan converted on one of their many scoring chances, but that would be it.  The Rockets were forced to settle with a 1-1 tie.

    In game 2 versus Southpoint, The Rockets ran into another hot tender, who stopped all 30 shots they threw his way.  The Rockets dominated this game but couldn’t buy a goal and suffered a heartbreaking 1-0 loss.  This meant The Rockets needed at least a tie in their next Round Robin game to have a chance of advancing to the Semi Finals on Sunday.

    Following the tough loss, the boys remained positive and continued working hard against a strong Essex team.  Jayden Kinchen came up with a big goal early in the game but aside from that, the Rockets couldn't seem to catch a break anywhere.  It seemed that the Hockey Gods were against them and with just over a minute to play, they found themselves trailing 3-1.  Up to that point in the tournament, the Rockets had nearly 100 total shots for on net, with only 2 making it across the goal line.  It would have been real easy then for the boys to pack it in and accept defeat.  But they did not.  The boys showed a tremendous amount heart and continued to battle.  With their goalie pulled for an extra attacker and 1:05 left on the clock, The Rockets finally caught a break.  Logan Parker fired a shot just wide, which bounced off the end boards right onto Parker Andersson's stick in front of the net.  Andersson made no mistake burying the puck into a yawning cage to make it 3-2.  Seconds later, Essex received a bench minor penalty which put Strathroy on the power play.  Then, with a 6 on 4 advantage and only 15 seconds left in the game, Kinchen found Parker all alone in front.  Parker then backhanded the puck into the back of the net for the game tying goal and the bench erupted in exhilaration.  The game ended in a 3-3 tie which was just enough to put The Rockets into 2nd place of their pool and get them into the Semi Finals on Sunday. 

     In the Semis, against their league rivals from Petrolia, the Rockets continued playing strong.  Petrolia opened the scoring early but Strathroy got the momentum right back minutes later with a goal from Parker, off the cycle.  Andersson and Mark Hewitt drew the assists.  Griffin Urquhart was stellar in net once again, turning away 17 of the 18 shots he faced.  The score remained 1-1 until early in the 3rd period, when Kinchen found teammate JT Hodgins open at the point.  Hodgins quickly released a strong wrister, which hit mesh and gave his team a 2-1 lead.  Ashton Peters got the insurance marker with 5 minutes left to play, with a hard wrister off the rush, to give his team a 3-1 lead.  Shortly after that, Hewitt found Rowan Dortmans open at the point, whose wrist shot found the back of the net.  That ended the scoring and The Rockets advanced to the Finals with a solid 4-1 win.  

     In the Championship game, The Rockets faced Southpoint, and a goalie that was hotter than a 3 dollar pistol, who had already shut them out 1-0 earlier in the tournament.  The Rockets played a very solid and complete game at both ends of the ice.  ‘The bruise brothers’, Dylan White and Lucas Van Heeswyk, were fast and fearless on the forecheck and had a lot of puck possession time in the offensive zone.   Southpoint’s tender kept turning away shot after shot though.  Then, midway through the 2nd period, The Rockets finally broke through.  Peters fired a hard pass from his own end into the neutral zone to Kinchen, who then sprung loose for a breakaway.  Kinchen made a slick deke to his backhand and slid the puck just past the tender's outstretched pad and into the net.  Up 1-0, The Rockets really started to shut things down defensively.  Clayton Derbyshire, Bradley Van Heeswyk, Noah Williams, Dortmans and Hodgins played exceptional defense, which they had been doing all weekend.  Lucas Brandts was focused like a ninja in net, turning away anything that came his way.  With some intense moments and some exceptional penalty killing late in the game, The Rockets fended off the attack and held on for the 1-0 shutout win and Championship victory.
    

    The boys are all proud of themselves and each other, as they should be. They showed a lot of character all weekend, on and off the ice.  They learned that staying positive and working hard will pay off in the end.  All that hard work, all that pain, all that sacrifice, and all that effort, was all worth it when that final buzzer sounded and the boys poured off the bench and onto their goalie to celebrate.  The boys acted like Champions and played like Champions all weekend long and brought the hardware home to show for it.

(Written by Kyle Cowan)

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