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PeeWee A Team in Great Western Showcase |
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Youth Hockey – Pee Wee A update – 2-18-08
BAHA Pee Wee A Icedogs Win the Great Western Showcase in Salt Lake City, UT
BAHA PeeWee A Icedogs traveled to the Great Western Showcase Tournament in Salt Lake City, Utah. This is a premier tournament for U18, U16, Bantam and PeeWee teams from around the Western US. Teams from Sun Valley, Boise and Idaho Falls Idaho, Casper, Rock Springs and Team, Wyoming, Arizona, Los Angeles, CA, Fort Collins, CO, Yakama, WA, Bozeman and Billings, MT and a number of teams from in and around Salt Lake City, UT participated.
In the Pee Wee division pool play the Icedogs faced the Salt Lake Lightning Selects (3-3 tie), Rocky Mountain Renegade (4-2 win) and Team Wyoming Cowboys (2-1 win) finishing 2-0-1. In the Semi final they beat the LA Junior Kings in a shoot-out and wrapped up the Championship with a 4-1 win over the Northern Colorado Eagles.
Game 1 – Friday 2-15-08 7:00 PM
BAHA Pee Wee A Icedogs (3) – Salt Lake Lightning Selects (3)
After a long day on the road to Salt Lake and the Great Western Showcase the BAHA Pee Wee A Icedogs arrived at the Acord Arena in West Valley City, UT not knowing what to expect. #3 for the Lightning, Nickolas O’Cain had been mentioned in the February edition of the USA Hockey Magazine lending an air of prestige to one of the home teams. His notoriety was not a fluke in that Nickolas scored two goals against the ‘Dogs. The ‘Dogs played with road weary legs and managed a 3-3 tie. The first line of Chandler D’Agostino, Spencer Hallin and Mathew Stewart contributed all three goals with Chandler D’Agostino scoring (2) and Hallin with a goal and an assist. Stewart contributed an assist. Casey Mielnik was solid in net.
Game 2 – Saturday 2-16-08 – 9:30 AM
BAHA Pee Wee A Icedogs (4), Rocky Mountain Renegade (2)
The Pee Wee Icedogs found a new force in 3rd liner Will Dissly during this game. His over all hustle and hard play netted him two goals and game MVP from his teammates. In addition to Will’s two goals, Matt Stewart found the back of the net twice to round out the four goal win. Trenton Franzen played a solid game in net turning away 18 shots on goal.
Game 3 – Saturday 2-16-08 – 5:30 PM
BAHA Pee Wee A (2), Team Wyoming Cowboys (1)
This was a hard fought border war between the ‘Dogs and Team Wyoming. Although the Cowboys only had 10 players suited for the game, they played hard through the final minutes of the game. As the Dogs tried to wear them down on the big Olympic sheet – the Cowboys battled and made the ‘Dogs prove they deserved the win. The second line of Ben Goertzen, Henry Hietala and Wayne Mickelsen finally found some rhythm put the puck in the net as needed. Wayne Mickelsen found the back of the net off of a feed from defenseman Austin Stowell. Ben Goertzen had the top shelf game winner off of a feed from Roam Chandler. Austin Charnholm earned the team MVP for his strong play.
The PW Icedogs completed pool play undefeated with two wins and a tie.
Semi Final (loser goes home) Sunday 2-17-08 – 11:00 AM
The Icedogs faced a daunting task in playing the #1 team – Los Angeles Junior Kings – in the Semi Final. The Kings had beaten the Lightning, Renegade and Team Wyoming by a combined total of 30+ to 3. LA had dominated the teams in pool play. The Icedogs had not dominated any of the teams they had played. We don’t know if LA took the Icedogs lightly or if they were looking past them – but they clearly were not ready for what the ‘Dogs brought to the game. The ‘Dogs dominated the game from the first drop of the puck. Within the first 2 minutes the LA coach called a time out and asked his players “Whateryoudoing???” The ‘Dogs had clearly taken them out of their game. The Icedogs jumped on top with the first line taking charge – Matt Stewart from Spencer Hallin and Chandler D’Agostino from John D’Agostino giving them a two – nothing lead through 2 ½ periods. The Icedogs were clicking on all cylinders and the team bought into the coaching strategy of aggressive forecheck, aggressive backcheck, give them no space and let Casey Mielnik make the required saves in goal. With 2 minutes left LA scored their first goal. Less then a minute later they scored their second. The ‘Dogs held strong to force a tie. Given this was not a championship game – it went straight to a shootout.
Casey Mielnik in goal gave the ‘Dogs an added level of confidence. He and the defensive core of John D’Agostino, Conor McNamara, Austin Stowell and Roam Chandler had held the Kings to two late goals. Now it was up to Casey to finish the Kings. The Icedogs went first in the shootout with Chandler D’Agostino missing, Casey stopped the next Kings player. Austin Charnholm buried the next shot with Casey stopping one more. Spencer Hallin missed for the Dogs and the Kings shooter slipped one by Mielnik making it 1-1. Matt Stewart beat the Kings goalie upper left and Casey Mielnik stopped the next shot. Ben Goertzen skated in and was denied. Mielnik gave up the next goal leaving it tied 2-2 after the first five shooters. Conor McNamara was next for the Icedogs. Skating straight in on net, Conor fired a rocket into the upper left corner, pinging off the interior structure of the net. As the next Kings shooter skated in on Casey, the silence was deafening. The shooter shot, Casey made the save and the Icedogs had knocked off the favorite and were headed for the Championship.
Championship – Monday 2-18-08 – 7:15 AM
Bozeman Icedogs vs. Northern Colorado Junior Eagles
The star of the Semi Final Game – Goalie Casey Mielnik – woke up with the flu in the middle of the night. His Mom let the team know – Casey was not able to play in the Championship. The team rallied around their other goalie – Trenton Franzen. Trenton was up for the task.
The ‘Dogs, having come off of an incredibly emotional win against the #1 Kings from Los Angeles had to figure out how to regroup and “fire up” for the all important Championship. They were buoyed by knowing that their teammate, Mick Delaney would be on the ice. Mick had not been with the team for the first 4 games due to a conflict. His family needed to be at another sporting event in Las Vegas, NV. Upon finding out that his team was in the Championship on Monday – his parents and sisters drove all night from Las Vegas to Salt Lake to make sure Mick was there for his team.
The game started with the usual back and forth of two teams trying to figure each other out. Both teams seemed to be playing back – waiting for the other team to make a mistake. The first goal belonged to the Eagles however the Icedogs answered a few minutes later with Chandler D’Agostino burying the rebound off of a shot from Defenseman Michael Truex ending the frame knotted at 1-1. In the 2nd the ‘Dogs came alive, with the second line scoring two goals (the first of which was the game winner) – Wayne Mickelsen from, Henry Hietala and Ben Goertzen and Hietala scoring unassisted on a beautiful shot over the Eagle Goalies shoulder. Heading into the 3rd the Icedogs were in control with a 3-1 lead. The Eagles continued to attack but the strong physical play from the Icedogs had taken the wind out of their sails. In the waning minutes the Eagles pulled their goalie. Spencer Hallin jumped on an Eagles defender, forcing a turnover, grabbing the puck and burying an empty net goal, sealing the win. As time ran out, the ‘Dogs swarmed the ice, congratulating each other on the Great Western Showcase Championship.
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