Strathroy Atom Blue sponsored by Rosser Truck Repair – John Henry Tournament Champs!, News, Atom LL Blue, 2015-2016 (Strathroy Minor Hockey)

This Team is part of the 2015-2016 season, which is not set as the current season.
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Dec 30, 2015 | cmackinnon | 2552 views
Strathroy Atom Blue sponsored by Rosser Truck Repair – John Henry Tournament Champs!
The Strathroy Atom Blue Jr. Rockets took to the ice at the Gemini for the John Henry Memorial Tournament on Dec. 27th looking to bring the home the gold. 

   In game 1 of Round Robin play, they were up against Strathroy Atom White.   The boys knew that this team would come in hungry for a win, and that they would have to be at their best to get the first victory of the tournament.

   Phoenix Timmington kicked things off for the team when he found the back of the net on a nice assist from Brady Busby-McEachen early in the game to set the tone. 

   Both teams worked hard but a relentless forechecking display led by Logan Mann, Jacob Vanderlinden, Connor Anderson and the rest of the forward group was too much for the White Rockets.  Duncan MacKinnon picked up a cycle goal on a turnover to increase the lead. 

   Griffin Page was a force from the blue line all game long, repeatedly preventing the opposing team from getting the puck out, and jumping into the play to create havoc in the offensive zone.   Page made a great pass to Ethan Hodgins, who buried the puck for the 3rd goal of the game. 

   The team played great defensively and held the white Rockets to just a few shots.  Josh Murray and Jon Correia were extremely solid in defending the rush, stripping the White team and feeding the forwards to return to the forecheck.  Noah Blauuboer stood tall as usual in net when he was called upon.   

     Hodgins set up Nolan Couto, who made a nifty move to elude the defenders and beat the Atom White Goaltender.  MacKinnon picked up an insurance goal on assists from Muylaert and Hodgins to seal the 5-1 victory.    

     Next, The Rockets faced off against the 17-0-0 Wallaceburg Lakers.  The Lakers were coming off a big win in their first game of the tournament, and were certain to be a tough opponent.  Coach Vanderlinden led the game off with an inspiring speech stressing our team depth and speed, and the boys hit the ice full of energy and enthusiasm.

   The team was in full flight, using their speed on both the rush and backcheck.  There were a number of close calls, pucks trickling past the Lakers’ goal post and big saves by their goaltender as the Rockets took the play to the Lakers.  Despite the high chances only Muylaert was able to find the net in the first 2 periods, set up by Hodgins and MacKinnon.  The Lakers replied with a goal of their own and settled into a 1-1 tie going into the 3rd.

     The Rockets best-in-the-league team defence was on full display the rest of the game, with Page, Busby-McEachen, Murray and Corriea repeatedly stymying the Lakers offence as they tried to push for the go-ahead goal.  Blauuboer made 3 huge saves to maintain the tie, and Timmington scored the go-ahead goal with assists to Page and Hodgins to take the lead for good.  The team worked together to defend the lead the rest of the way, including a great effort on a backcheck by Mann to break up a dangerous odd-man rush with only a couple of minutes left.  The Rockets held on for a 2-1 victory. 

   In their final Round Robin game, The Rockets were up against the Ilderton Jets who came into the game looking for a big win. 

   The Rockets came out strong, crashing the net of the Ilderton goaltender and hemming the Jets in their own zone.  Despite a stellar effort by the Ilderton goalie, the Rockets were able to pump in 5 goals to cruise to a 5-0 victory.  Busby-McEachen kicked off the scoring with a booming shot from the slot on a feed from Muyleart.  Hodgins and Muylaert added to their impressive assist totals by setting up MacKinnon for the second goal of the game, and Vanderlinden made a great play to dig the puck free and set up Couto for his second of the tournament.  Anderson put the game out of reach for the Jets with some deft stickhandling to cap off a nice passing play started by Hodgins and Timmington.  MacKinnon closed out the scoring on another nice feed from Vanderlinden. 

     In the Finals, the Rockets faced the East Lambton Eagles, who had just come off a big win over a tough Lambeth squad to make the gold medal game.  The team was prepared for a tough battle, having faced the same team early in the season and coming away with a hard-earned 1 goal victory. 

   The Rockets were pumped up by a large (and noisy!) group of fans who raised the roof as the team hit the ice.  Team defence was on full display during the first two periods, as the Rockets held the high-scoring Eagles team off the sheet.  Strong backchecking by Mann, Anderson and Vanderlinden helped provide the defence group of Murray, Corriea, Busby-McEachen and Page with time to repeatedly break up rushes and clear the puck. 

   Timmington took over on offence, with a dominant 3 goal performance in the first 2 periods that helped propel the Rockets to a 3-0 lead.  Couto and Hodgins picked up assists on Timmington’s goals.  Hodgins assist gave him an amazing 6 assists for the Tournament to lead the team.

  Just as the fans were starting to relax, the Eagles offence started to come to life.  They scored 2 quick goals to get right back into the game, and continued to press hard.  Blauuboer was called on to make several key saves to maintain the lead, including an amazing kick save on a tough shot from in close.

   With time winding down in the third and trailing by 1, the Eagles pulled their goaltender and came hard with 6 attackers.  The Rockets played amazing positional defence to keep the Eagles offence to the outside.  As the clock ticked down to zero MacKinnon stole the puck from an Eagles defender and popped an empty netter to seal the victory and bring the crowd to their feet. 

   The team celebrated their gold medal the same way as they won it – as a team.  The staff are all very proud of how well we played as a group.  Everyone on this team is an important contributor, and our strength is in our depth and how in any given game we can get a big performance from so many different players.

Special thanks to our Sponsor, Rosser Truck Repair and our fans!

Next up:  International Silver Stick in Pelham, Jan. 7-10.  Our team is riding high and looking forward to competing for the Championship once again!

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