A Finalists of the Lanark
Tournament
The Richmond Royals players and coaches prepared for a fun day of hockey on Saturday January 31st for their second tournament of the year, post the Bell Capital Cup.
The Royals played a great game to start off the day. Showing their coaches they had learned to play as a great team…With two great goals and a strong defense this allowed them to shut out Kanata Knights 2-0. With pancake filled bellies, the second game proved to be just as exciting and well played out like the first, awarding Mark Lachaine (G) his second shut out of the day, stealing this game from North Leeds Stars 2-0.
The Royals were on a hot streak…
Finally the players took the ice to face Smith Falls (SF) with the hopes of taking home the championship for the third and final game… In the first period, both teams played well, our defense was on top of their game and the goalie was sharp keeping the game scoreless. The second period SF scored the first goal of the game putting their team on the board. RR#2 Hunter Lalonde (assisted by Lily Oliver) reciprocated shortly after to tie it up at 1-1. With just over 2 minutes left in the third period SF scores another goal to steal the lead. In the final minutes of the game SF gets a penalty, the Royals pull their goalie to make it 4 on 6, and played their hearts out in the final minute of the third. Just as SF starts to count down the last ten seconds, with 9.3 seconds left on the clock RR #16 Brendan Yannoulopoulos (assisted by Jakob Mitchell and Lily Oliver) scores the tying goal for a 2-2 final at the end of the third. WOW!!!!
The excitement continues through two scoreless sudden death overtime periods, forcing a shoot out. Coaches pick their first three players, to represent the teams. The First line skated and Brandan scored for the Royals. As the second line skates out, SF scored, but RR did not seal the deal. Third line steps up, however the goalies both held their own to keep the score at 3-3. Coaches are asked for more players to step up to the line. After a few more skaters, RR#15 Justin Kerr lands one in the net but so does the SF player, keeping the tie going at 4-4. Moving ahead with a couple more skaters, the goalies were bound and determined to steal the win for their team. After both Goalies faced 10 shooters, SF unfortunately gets a final goal to wrap up the game for a 5-4 win.
As far as the parents were concerned, the Royals were still winners of this game, as they came out and conquered 1 hour and 20 minutes of true hockey!!!
Congratulations Atom C!!!