Jan 19, 2020 | Dave Hickey | 1845 views
Novice Canes place 2nd in Whitby Winter Classic
Coming off 2 home wins earlier in the week, the Novice AAA Hurricanes traveled east to Whitby to take part in their first full-ice tournament.
In game 1, the 'Canes took on the host Whitby Wildcats and came away with a 3-1 victory. Preston Sedlezky (from Calum Reilly), Nolan Lillicrap (from Hayden Cochren) and Evan Meehan (unassisted) led the way offensively for Halton.
Game 2 saw the club spot the Kitchener Rangers a 1-0 lead, before scoring 4 unanswered goals to win 4-1 and move to 2-0 overall. Preston Sedlezky continued his hot streak, adding a hat trick with Hayden Cochren adding one of his own. Liam Fay, Willie Clahane (2) and Calum Reilly picked up assists in the victory.
On Saturday, Halton shut out the Clarington Toros 4-0 to go to move to 3 wins, 0 losses on the weekend. Brayden Park picked up the shut-out in the win while James Del Duca, Hayden Cochren and Nolan Lillicrap added goals.
Their last game of the round robin was against Peterborough. The Petes would score a PP goal midway through the 1st to take a 1-0 lead before the Hurricanes would reply with 3 goals of their own. Nolan Lillicrap (assisted by Anthony Terkalas), Hudson Day (assisted by James Del Duca) and Willie Clahane (assisted by Calum Reilly) gave the 'Canes a 3-1 lead after 1. Hayden Cochren scored just 23 seconds into the 2nd period opening the lead to 4-1 but the Petes we able to claw back scoring 2 in the 2nd, and adding the tying marker with 4 minutes to go in the game.
With the tie, the 'Canes came out on top in their division, claiming 7 of a possible 8 points while scoring 15 goals, and allowing 6 against.
Now into Sunday and the semi-finals the 'Canes took on the West Mall Lightning. West Mall came in undefeated at 4-0, and had outscored their opposition 19-5 in the round robin.
A full team effort resulted in the Hurricanes shutting out the Lightning 3-0 behind some fantastic team defense and a shut out from Brayden Park (his 2nd straight whitewash of the weekend). Anthony Terkalas scored 2 goals, with Preston Sedlezky adding an empty netter, sending the team to the finals.
An even tougher opponent awaited them in the Championship Game as the Quinte Red Devils came in at 5-0 overall, scoring north of 40 goals while only allowing 3 including an 8-1 win over Whitby in the other semi-final game.
An early shorthanded goal saw the Devils go up 1-0 before James Del Duca buried one from in tight to tie the game at 1's. The Red Devils added another in the 1st period and took a 2-1 lead to intermission. Quinte carried the play for several minutes early in the middle period but 'Canes goalie Owen John stood tall, and a backhand goal by Rory Parker with 2 minutes to go knotted the game at 2's.
Both teams traded chances in the 3rd, but neither team found the back of the net and the game headed to overtime, with Halton looking to kill off the remaining minute of a penalty.
Just 10 seconds into overtime, Quinte scored to win the championship with the Hurricanes earning a well deserved Silver medal.
The Novice Hurricanes would like to congratulate the Quinte Red Devils on their well-earned victory and thank the Whitby Wildcat organization for an extremely well run tournament.
Next up for the Hurricanes is a trip to Niagara to take on the North Stars next Sunday the 26th.