St. Thomas Panthers PW LL team travelled to Barrie this past weekend to compete in the Sharkfest Tourney. This year to tourney featured over 150 teams from all over Ontario and the US. The Panthers were placed in a 12 team division with two pools of 6. Coach Darrell Crossett had been stressing a team game the past several weeks in practice as it would take them 6 games to achieve their goal of bringing home the banner. Over the years St. Thomas teams have done very well in this tournament.
The girls opened up Friday afternoon against Barrie Sharks and came out flying. They shot out to an early lead by forcing the Sharks into several neutral zone turnovers which were converted into Panther markers. The Panthers kept up the pace of the game and came away with a 5-0 win to start things off.Next up were the Wilmot Wolverines. Again St. Thomas started fast and put pressure on the Wolverines through all three periods. The defense was led by Shelby, Audrey, Nicole, Amy and Julia who kept things clean in front of goalie Emily Sanderson allowing her to pick up here second shut-out of the tournament. Forwards Raylee, Caryn, Heather, Zoe, Taylor, Mouser, Goose, and Madison continually put pressure on the Wilmot squad not really giving them a chance to get any momentum. In the final game of the round robin the girls would face the Barrie Blue Thunder who were also undefeated. The winner of this game would get the first place seeding in the play off round. St. Thomas picked up where they left off and skated the Thunder into the ground. The game got really chippy as it wore on with the Thunder taking penalties for slashing, body contact and unsportsmanlike late in the game. The Panthers did not back down and walked away with a 7-0 victory and a first place seeding.
Owen Sound Ice Hawks would be the next opponent as they finished fourth in Pool A. The made quick work of the Ice Hawks and skated off the ice Saturday night with another 5-0 win. The Panthers would meet up again with the Barrie Blue Thunder team in the semi’s. The girls were nervous but ready as they knew this would be a battle. Coach Conrad gave a spirited speech in the dressing room prior to the game. When the puck dropped Barrie came out flying. They were all over the Panthers for the first few minutes but St. Thomas was able to score on turnover and calm the nerves of the Panther players. St. Thomas stretched their lead to 3-0 in the second and seemed to be on complete control. But one of Barrie’s big defensemen made a fantastic end to end rush beating Emily with a laser like shot in the top hand corner. Coach Crossett had the girls stick to their game plan and the speed + contact = pressure model which the girls executed perfectly the rest of the way.
In the final it would be the Barrie Sharks White Knights. They had upset the Barrie Green Monsters who were previously undefeated in the other semi. The girls ate their pre-game meal together with a quiet confidence. Each knowing what they had to do reach their team goal. In the dressing room before the game several of the girls talked about being nervous. A few of the girls who had been in tournament finals before kept everyone positive as skates were tied and helmuts went on. Both of the teams came out hard and played to a stalemate after one period. In the second the Panthers started to take the game to the home town favorites. Late in the second after the defense managed to keep the puck in the Barrie zone and St. Thomas picked up the first goal of the game on a laser like shot from Madison Murray. There was some dispute as to whether it crossed the line but the second official verified it went in the back of the net and bounced out. The game stayed this way till late in the third when Barrie called a time out. They hemmed in the Panthers and forced Coach Crossett to call his own timeout to calm the girls down with just over a minute left. St. Thomas managed to win the draw and get the puck out of their end and keep it out. 10, 9, 8, the countdown began 3, 2, 1………and the girls rushed the ice to celebrate reaching their goal. The Barrie coaches were very gracious in defeat and commented on what a great skating team St. Thomas had.
It was a complete team effort all weekend as everyone hit the score-sheet including goalie Emily Sanderson. Heather Dennis picked up her first goal of the year which made her mom and dad very proud. Shelby Vanderkooy picked up a hat trick in the round robin and several of the girls scored multiple goals throughout the tourney in the team win.