Mooretown Lady Flags Novice C Take Gold at 37th Annual Walter Gretzky Tournament!!
The Mooretown Lady Flags Novice C team returned home mid-day Sunday with 11 happy girls showing off some shiny new hardware from the 37th Annual Walter Gretzky tournament this past weekend held in Brantford at the Wayne Gretzky Sports Centre.
Considered one of the largest OWHA sanctioned tournaments in Ontario, the Novice C division featured nine teams from across the province. Each team played three teams within the division with the top three having a crack at getting to the gold medal game.
A Friday morning, 7 a.m. puck drop vs Gloucester saw a sleepy and rushed Mooretown team after encountering an unexpected detour due to flooding in the area on the way to the arena. Gloucester went up by one mid way through the second, but was answered by Mooretown almost immediately. In the third, Mooretown got caught out of position while being short handed and Gloucester put in a late goal to win the game 2 -1.
Peterborough was the next match up at 2 p.m. and the girls showed up ready to go. The Lady Flags went down early by two but then immediately began their recovery with four unanswered goals in the following nine minutes taking a 4-2 win.
Saturday, again at 7 a.m., Mooretown was matched with playoff rival Lambton Attack. The Lady Flags had a record of 1-1-1 with the Attack going into this tournament. Mooretown went up by two by the end of the first and held the lead the entire game winning 4-2. This was enough to qualify for the semi finals tying Lambeth for 2nd place and Owen Sound getting the bye to the final.
Midway through Saturday, the Lady Flags played a planned free game against Waterloo due to the uneven number of teams entered in the division. While no points could be earned for the Flags, points were up for grabs to lowest seed Waterloo. The Lady Flags made easy work, winning 7-0 and chalked it up as an afternoon skate that kept the girls focused.
The puck dropped at 6 p.m. Saturday for the semi final game against Lambeth. Though it was the third game of the day, the Lady Flags came out ready and strong with end to end action until 5:54 in the 3rd when Mooretown scored to take the lead. The Lady Flags then took a late penalty with 45 seconds left and fended off a two-man advantage by Lambeth to punch a ticket to the final with 1-0 victory.
On Sunday morning the Lady Flags showed up ready for what turned out to be a real barn burner against Owen Sound. Going down 1-0 late in the first in this hard fought battle, Mooretown tied it late in the second and went ahead early in the third only to be tied back up by Owen Sound six minutes later. The 3rd period ended in a tie forcing the game to a 3 on 3, 5 minute sudden death overtime. It was a battle ending with no winner seeing the puck traveling end to end and back again several times throughout with several shots on net. The game moved to a shoot out and after three shooters each, the score remained a tie with two of three attempts being made by both sides going in the back of the net. The Lady Flags went to sudden death shoot out and it was ended in one round with a great shot high to the back of the net to take the contest and bring home gold to Mooretown.
The Novice C Lady Flags played the best hockey of their lives this weekend while coming together as a tight team and every player putting their heart and soul into each and every game.
The Lady Flags will take this accomplishment and use it to help propel them further into the post- season, providing momentum to finish strong.
In Regional Provincial Playdowns the Lady Flags are ¾ of the way through a double round robin competing against Lambton Attack and Sarnia Lady Sting, sporting a record of 1-1-1 with one game to play next Sunday at 2:30pm in Mooretown. A win will help but not ensure them a ticket to Provincial Championships in April which determine the provincial champion for the Novice C division. Stay tuned!
The Lady Flags will also continue to play their league playoffs, currently 1-1-1 in a five team double round robin that will see the top 2 teams playoff for the WOGHL league champion after March Break.
Girls from across Ontario converged on the city of Brantford this past weekend for the 37th Annual Walter Gretkzy Tournament. All five of the MTMHA Lady Flags teams competed: Novice HL, Novice C, Atom HL, Peewee C and Bantam HL. Both Novice C and Peewee C brought home gold!