Jan 26, 2015 | ppettipiece | 2062 views
Dragons Finish Second At International Silver Stick
The Bantam BB Dragons just returned from Port Huron, Michigan where they were participating in the 53rd annual International Silver Stick Tournament. The Dragons earned their birth in this prestigious event by winning the Watford Regional in early January.
The Dragons opened the tournament on Friday morning with a 3-1 victory over the North Jersey Avalanche. Jared Marczenko lead the way with 2 goals. Aidan Smith had a goal and an assist. Noah Small, Jayden Engberts and Philip Murphy each added an assist. Josh Neve got the win in goal.
Game 2 saw the Dragons score an early goal on their way to an 8-1 win over the Tampa Jr Lightning. Noah Small lead the way with 2 goals and 2 assists. Philip Murphy added 2 goals and an assist. Other goal scorers were Jonah Zimmer, Teagan Chambers and Alex Liem. Assists went to Marczenko (2), Colin Rodenburg, and Jackson Van Bakel. Max Nixon got the win between the pipes.
Saturday morning saw the Dragons face off against the Applewood Coyotes from Mississauga. This was a pivotal game as both teams entered the game with 2 and 0 records and the winner would end up winning the pool. Jonah Zimmer lead the way with 2 goals and 2 assists. Noah Small chipped in with 2 goals while Aidan Smith added a goal while also adding an assist. Alex Pettipiece had 3 assists while Connor Ambrogio and Alex Liem each added single helpers. Max Nixon made 12 saves in the 5-3 Dragons win.
The Dragons began the Championship round with a quarter-final game against the Michigan Warriors in historic McMorran Arena. McMorran became familiar territory as the Dragons would play 3 straight games in the building. The Dragons were challenged in this game facing plenty of adversity. Not only did they have to kill off several penalties, Dorchester had 2 different players serve 10 minute misconducts for head contact penalties. As was the case throughout the weekend, the scoring in this affair was spread out through the team. In this game, markers were scored by 4 different players. Murphy, Small, Zimmer and Engberts each scored lone goals. Assists went to Smith, Zimmer, Pettipiece, Engberts and Quinn Wenger. Neve picked up the 4-1 win that put the Dragons through to the final four.
Championship Sunday saw the Dragons take on the Kapuskasing Ice Hawks in a semi-final game. The Dragons opened the scoring 6:09 into the first frame on a powerplay goal by Alex Pettipiece. Jonah Zimmer and Noah Small added the assists. Noah Small would add a second Dragons goal before the first period would end with Zimmer adding his second assist. The Ice Hawks began the second period with a powerplay but any momentum would be short lived as Zimmer scored an unassisted goal 5 seconds into the period. With the game in hand, the Dragons continued to press adding 3 more goals to win the game 6-0. Engberts would score 2 goals both assisted from Zimmer and Pettipiece. Jared Marczenko would close out the scoring on a nice passing play from Philip Murphy. Max Nixon got the shutout in the Dorchester net.
This setup a championship game against the #1 'A' team in Ontario the Welland Tigers who entered the game with a 46-1 record. The host committee does an unbelievable job with the pre-game ceremonies of the Championship that includes player introductions with spotlights, fog machines, shooting fire, lazer show and national anthems of both the United States and Canada. This definitely added to the excitement of this highly anticipated matchup. The Dragons got on the board 58 seconds into the game on a goal by Zimmer from Ambrogio. The rest of the first period saw plenty of end to end action. The Dragons got into a bit of penalty trouble in the second period and Welland definitely capitalized scoring 2 powerplay goals and adding another late in the period at even strength. Although down 3-1 going into the break, the Dragons had a powerplay to start the third and the team was still positive it could come back. Unfortunately for the Dragons, the speed of the Tigers, fatique from playing 6 games in 3 days, and a couple of bounces prevented the Dragons from making the comeback they wanted. The Tigers went on to add 2 more powerplay goals for a final score of 5-1.
Jonah Zimmer (F), Aidan Smith (D), and Max Nixon (G) were named to the tournament All-Star team.
This truly was a great experience for the Bantam Dragons and their families. The Silver Stick tournament is still one of the most prestigious tournaments in the world and definitely one of the hardest to win. Throughout this tournament run, the Dragons won 10 straight games before losing in the final to a great team that was a tournament favourite from the beginning. It was a team goal from the beginning of the season to win this tournament as no 'BB' team has ever won the Bantam 'A' International Championship. Although the team came up just a bit short, the boys are proud of what they accomplished as are the coaches, parents and friends who made the drive to Port Huron over the weekend.