Bantam AE have strong showing in first tournament of the season, News, Bantam AE, U15, 2015-2016 (Elmvale Minor Hockey)

This Team is part of the 2015-2016 season, which is not set as the current season.
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Nov 11, 2015 | Lorrianne Dutton | 1908 views
Bantam AE have strong showing in first tournament of the season
The Hardship Acres Bantam AE team traveled to Tillsonburg for our first tournament of the season on November 6.  Coming off an inspired regular season outing in Dundalk that saw the boys come out on the wrong end of 3-2 game, but perhaps their best to effort to date.  The team had high hopes for good results in the tobacco country.  

Our first game had us in tough against a strong team out of Strathroy.  The Coyotes played hard in the first and the difference between a 3-0 Elmvale lead and the 0-0 score showing on the board was a hot netminder at the opposing end.  After a strong first, a few minor miscues on our end found us down 2-0 early in the first.  The boys stuck with our opponents but could not catch a break to sneak one into the Strathroy net.  Despite the final score being 6-0 once again the scoreboard was not reflective of the effort the team put in. CJ Beltrame earned player of the game honors as selected by the opposing team, his two way play made him a deserving recipient.

Our second game early Saturday morning against Ayr and again the Coyotes were on full attack mode.  The boys peppered the Flames team with body checks and shots to keep the play in their zone for most of the game, but again we were not able to find the back of the net.  After an effort deserving of a victory the boys came away with a 0-0 tie and our first point of the round robin format in the tournament.  Tanner Corriveau was awarded the player of the game for his strong defensive play and offensive rushes.

This set the stage for our third game in a hotly contested division that had to this point seen Strathroy go undefeated with Ayr sitting at 2 ties and 1 loss, and our final opponent the Ilderton Jets sitting with 1 tie and 1 loss but holding that crucial goals for and against advantage to sit in second spot.  The boys were in a win and your in situation and man did they want to win.  For the second straight game the boys completely controlled the play at both ends of the rink, the difference being in this game we actually found the back of the net on a well placed point shot with lots of traffic in front of the net. We had our first lead of the tournament only to have a scrappy Ilderton team claw back to tie it at one.  The boys stayed with the game plan and some pretty passing on a Coyote power play saw us strike again to go back on top.  Both teams would trade chances with neither goalie willing to give an inch.  With time ticking away in the third our boys found themselves down a man and the Jets starting to apply pressure.  With the opposing net empty the boys hit the post not once but twice in a 30 second span.  Ilderton would not roll over and with 2.6 seconds left a bouncing puck found its way into the back of the Elmvale net to tie the game at 2.  Once again a game the boys were more than deserving of winning did not end with the result they had hoped for.  Tyler Johnston was the deserving recipient of our player of the game award having stood tall in the Coyote net for all 3 games.

Once the math was completed a two tie one loss record was not enough for the team to advance to the semi-final.  The boys played with full effort every second of every shift, not much more could be asked of them then that.  Next up for the team are three regular season games leading up to Silver Stick in Collingwood on November 20.  If the team can keep up the play they have shown to this point of the season we will be a contender in Collingwood. 
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