John McCauley Memorial Tournament – Brampton, June 6-8, 2008
6/6 7:00pm
vs. 
Penalty minutes kill Raiders’ momentum, any chance of winning game
The Welland Harpwood’s Trophies Bantam #1 Raiders stumbled out of the gate in their tournament opener versus Mimico on Friday, but more than made up for this with some outstanding play the rest of the way to capture the Gold Medal against the Mountaineers in their rematch on Sunday afternoon.
Friday’s disappointing start was due in large part to an uninspired effort during the first fifteen minutes of play, which saw Welland scored on within the first thirty seconds, and four more times during the opening set.
While Welland performed better during the next two frames, they constantly gave back momentum to the Mountaineers through an endless parade of penalties, earning 28 minutes overall to Mimico’s 2.
A bright spot in the preliminary contest was the dominant performance of #11 Wade Kenny. Kenny, who has for several years distinguished himself as one of Zone 9’s best players as a member of the Fort Erie Hawks, steamrolled his way through the opposition, laying waste to any bodies that dared get in his path. Wade would pick up two assists, but it was his physical play and hustle throughout the game that one couldn’t help by notice.
#98 Zach Olsson, #15 Brooker Muir, #19 Sebastien Beaudoin, #16 Ryan “Bubba” Dakin and #36 Kevin Millejours would each collect single tallies on the night, with Millejours, Kenny (2), #90 Nicholas Beaudoin, #17 Michael Simpson and #29 Graeme McCullough assisting on the goals.
Leading the charge for Mimico was #14 Seamus Shanahan, who had three goals and three assists for six points. #15 Scott Foster notched a pair of goals for the Mountaineers as well, and single tallies were recorded by #7 Eric Morenz, #8 Justin DeMarchi, #3 Landon Fletcher, #12 Nicholas Paul and #9 John Anastasakis. Dishing out helpers were Shanahan with three, Paul and Anastasakis with two each, and #11 Benjamin Luymes, #18 Christian Mazzanti, #17 Dalton Barnes McColeman, #44 Matthew Lee, DeMarchi and Fletcher with one each.
The Raiders were edged in shots 20-18 despite playing short-handed for the majority of the forty-five minutes of play. Welland ceded four goals on eleven Mimico power-plays, while only receiving one man-advantage situation themselves, which they were not able to convert.
6/7 9:00am
vs. 
Welcome Back, Jack!
Little fireball #10 Jack Fitzgerald returned to the Raiders lineup from injury and immediately re-ignited the Welland offence, scoring three in his return to action. Despite his small stature, Jack gives big performances every time he hits the playing surface and Saturday’s games were no exception. Fitzgerald also tossed in an assist in the morning session, a 9-4 Raiders conquest of Oakville. #36 Kevin Millejours provided another large chunk of the visitors’ offensive surge, contributing a goal and two assists, while #91 Anthony DiFruscia dropped in a pair and #90 Nicholas Beaudoin put up a goal and three helpers to subdue the Hawks. Marking up the scoresheet further were #19 Sebastien Beaudoin, #16 Ryan “Bubba” Dakin with goals, and #98 Zach Olsson, #44 Bryce Brochu, #93 Damien Alfieri, #11 Wade Kenny, and Dakin with lone assists.
The Raiders outshot the Hawks 20-14 overall, going 0-for-4 on the power-play, but also negating both penalties they were assessed during the contest.
6/7 4:00pm
vs. 
Return of Bryce is nice
In the Raiders’ second game of the day, it was #44 Bryce Brochu’s turn to shine, as he tossed in two goals and an assist to help the Raiders defeat the Halton Hills #2 Bulldogs by a 5-2 score to advance to Sunday’s Gold Medal Game versus the Mimico Mountaineers. Brochu had missed the Raiders’ previous two contests during the week, and his return to the lineup on Saturday had an immediate positive effect.
#29 Graeme McCullough backstopped the team to victory from there with a fine performance between the pipes, blocking 17 of 21 shots. McCullough was only solved on the day by #17 R. Cicchetti, #7 J. McBride, #16 D. Stevens and #1 K. Kristensen-Inviovia, with #10 J. Laidlaw and #6 M. Van Dijk providing assists.
The foundation of the Welland Harpwood’s Trophies Raiders’ success this season has been the combined team effort on defence, which was on display again Saturday when they smothered Halton #2, picking up a 5-2 win to advance to the Gold Medal game on Sunday versus Mimico. Pair that with stellar goaltending and a motley crew of goal-scorers, as it’s easy to see why this team has closely battled even the very toughest teams it has faced so far this season.
If not for the fantastic netminding of Halton’s #1 Drew Coleman, the outcome could have easily be slanted more in the favour of the Raiders, who often had the misfortune of their shots hitting the crossbar or goalpost when they did manage to elude the grasp of Coleman.
Welland struck quickly with #15 Brooker Muir finding daylight only 12 seconds into the game and giving his team the 1-0 early advantage. #10 Jack Fitzgerald combined with #16 Ryan “Bubba” Dakin and #44 Bryce Brochu to double the Raiders lead, before Brochu netted an unassisted power-play goal making it 3-0. #91 Anthony DiFruscia tallied to put Welland up 4-0, on an assist from #17 Michael Simpson before Halton took advantage of a 3-on-1 breakout and responded with one of their own from #33 Sebastian Beckett, on a set-up from #22 Kirk Riedstra and #1 Coleman. Before the end of the second period, Halton would strike again, with #8 Liam Clare putting home an unaided power-play tally.
Brochu would collect his second of the game during the third to provide the Raiders with some added insurance, on passes from Dakin and #90 Nicholas Beaudoin, and Welland went into lockdown mode from there, allowing only five shots in the final fifteen minutes. Welland outshot Halton 27-21 overall. Halton struggled converting only once on seven man-advantage opportunities, while Welland went 2-for-4 with the extra-attacker.
6/8 1:15pm
vs.
Raiders chip away at Mountaineers, results in avalanche of goals
After Friday’s disappointing effort in the opener, the Raiders were determined to prove to Mimico that the previous result was just an aberration. Stymied early by the efforts of Mimico crease-keeper #1 Kenton Iannizi, the Raiders continued to fire away and eventually they were rewarded with a number of goals in the latter half of the game.
Welland’s #44 Bryce Brochu converted a #11 Wade Kenny pass into a short-handed marker to open the game’s scoring at 5:15 of the first before the Mountaineers replied at 7:55 with #8 Justin DeMarchi beating #30 Kyle Patterson while in all alone.
The Mountaineers would jump out to a lead when #3 Landon Fletcher parlayed a #17 Dalton Barnes feed into a 2-1 advantage, however, this would prove to be short-lived as the Raiders stormed back just over a minute later to tie the game on a #7 Jack Fitzgerald goal, assisted by #90 Nicholas Beaudoin.
Beaudoin would produce a powerplay marker to put his team in the forefront, on a pass from #16 Ryan “Bubba” Dakin, however Mimico would once again draw even with Welland on an unassisted strike from #13 Jeremy Hill, who streaked in and found paydirt on a breakaway chance.
Video footage from this game to be posted shortly…
That is as good as it would get for Mimico who then were shell-shocked as the Raiders offence kicked it into high gear, amassing seven unanswered goals by game’s end to run away with the John McCauley Memorial Bantam A/B Championship in convincing fashion. In the period and a half that remained #15 Brooker Muir and Dakin would record a goal and an assist each, Brochu would inflict further damage picking up another two goals and an assist, Beaudoin would complete the hat-trick by firing home another two, and Fitzgerald would also score for the second time in the contest. #30 Kyle Patterson, in addition to playing well in net for Welland, helped his own cause with an assist. #98 Zach Olsson, #9 Ryan Kirchmayer, #17 Michael Simpson and Kenny also drew single helpers during this span to pace the Raiders.
Welland outshot Mimico 23-14 overall and was 2-for-6 with the extra-attacker. The Raiders held Mimico scoreless during the four short-handed situations they faced. #44 Bryce Brochu was named Tournament MVP based on his fine performance during the final two days of the competition.
Welland returns to Zone 9 action with two tough road contests this week. Tuesday evening they travel to Burlington to faceoff against the Chiefs in a 9pm tilt, and the following night they square-off against the Bengals in the Steel City starting at 7pm.
1 Comment
June 10, 2008 at 4:00 pm
Congrats guys, good job. Moxie finally got the offense going.