Diamond Head Sprinklers Atoms Battle Down in Hagersville, News (Elmvale Minor Hockey)

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2014-2015 Atom LL1 | Dec 02, 2014 | Cory Schepers | 1703 views
Diamond Head Sprinklers Atoms Battle Down in Hagersville
This past weekend the Diamond Head Sprinklers Atom Local League team battled their way down to Hagersville for their first tournament of the year.  Their first opponent was a tough one and came on the ride down.  The 403 highway provided some tricky traffic as a mudslide in Hamilton provided some action.  This was particularly tough for one of our loyal fans nicknamed the "Double Duece" but after some detours and delays we all found our way to the hotel in Brantford.

Once down there and settled in, it was quite evident that everyone there was focused on what this tournament was all about and what was expected from everyone.  This tournament was to be about bonding and fun.  Some of my greatest memories are from the tournaments I attended as a minor hockey player.  I would be hard pressed to tell you which tournaments we won or what most of the scores were but I can tell you who we threw in the pool, whose room we watched Porky's in when we were in grade 5 and about many of the friendships created while away.  We were hard pressed not see a smile on a face of any of the players that made the trip down the Friday night.  We didn't even play that day so the focus was totally on swimming and mini sticks while the parents got to know each other and the Peewee LL team that joined us there.  As Coach Jordan failed to provide a curfew it was evident we were going to have some tired kids on the ice the next day as some of them played past the midnight hour while enjoying every minute.

When Saturday came we headed down to Hagersville for a first game in the early afternoon.  Although some of the players had some heavy eyes you could see the excitement in their faces as they walked into a great arena which had a real "home" feeling to it with the old style all wood stands and friendly people wherever you turned.  When the puck dropped you never know these boys were up late as they battled hard against the home team Hagersville.  We would end up battling right to the final buzzer and coming away victorious beating the home squad 2-1.  After a quick pizza lunch provided by the tournament organizers it was realized that there was enough time to head back to the hotel for yet another swim!  The pool may have been a little rowdy that afternoon.  Between the loud kids and some creepy old man in a onsie bathing suit we seemed to have the pool to ourselves and the fun was endless.

That evening at 6:00 we were back on the ice to play against another fairly local team in Six Nations.  Despite the late night and all the pool time the kids had fire in them and wouldn't quit.  The came out hard and never really let Six Nations into the game winning 4-0 with Raffi getting his first shut out as goal tender!  Well after that win, it was time to head back to the hotel for yet some more mini sticks and swimming.  The night ended a little earlier as the kids were finally winding down and realizing their opponent in the A Championship would be a tough one.

On Sunday as everyone got up excited for the final game of what was sure to be a tournament to remember for ever for these great young athletes you could see the excitement in their eyes.  They were off to face Barrie who was a major Atom team and had won their two previous games 9-2 and 8-1.  This did not faze this great group of kids at all as they know they can skate with the best of them.  As the players entered the ice for warm ups the coaches were curious how many of the Barrie kids either shaved or could drive themselves to game as the had an obvious size advantage.  Our team however never did notice the size difference and were never intimidated.  We came out strong dominating the early play but unable to put one behind a very strong Barrie goaltender.  Later that period we had a few minutes of where we made some mistakes and struggled and Barrie took advantage scoring 3 quick goals.  This did nothing but fire up the kids even more.  I have to give everyone of these young men props as they never gave up.  They fought right to the whistle every shift.  We were able to score two goals and in the dying minutes that strong goaltender with the luck of a few posts were able to shut us down from there.  We ended up falling short in that game 3-2 but as the Barrie coaches stated they were lucky to walk away with the win.

All in all it was a fantastic tournament.  Stronger friendships were made and some of the great talent these kid have were shown.  I would like to thank each and every parent who dedicated their time and money to come to the tournament and help provide such a great experience.  Keep on watching for the Diamond Head Sprinklers Atom LL #1 team as there are big things coming from this great group players.
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