Feb 03, 2013 | bnicholson | 1081 views
Storm Compete in Motown Cup
The Storm Atom AEs took a trip to Hockey Town to take part in the Motown Cup. The team came in with a few goals in mind...enjoy time with teamates, play some mini sticks, hang out in the pool, score a few goals and win a game. I'm happy to report that all goals were met, including recording their first victory of the season!
GAME #1
Our team moved into town on Friday afternoon to prepare for the first game of the tournament on Friday night against the Belle Tire Dearborn at the Ice Box Sports Center.
With a few butterflies in their bellies, the Storm would begin a back and forth affair that would see Belle Tire get on the board first. The first period would be in the books with Belle Tire leading 1-0.
The Storm would come out flying in the second period and would bury 3 goals and only allowing 1 making the score 3-2 Storm after 2 periods. The Storms first goal of the game would come on a nice end to end rush by Joey Munday who would get a beauty shot on the goalie, allowing a juicy rebound for MacKenzie Lumley who made no mistake firing it past the goalie. Next it would be Noah O'Neil's turn to score. Noah would take a solid shot and find the empty hole making it 2-1 Storm. Minutes later, Joey Munday would lay a lead pass on the stick of Ryan Nicholson, putting him on a clear breakaway. Nicholson would make a couple quick moves at the last minute, leaving himself an wide open net on the backhand making it 3-1 Storm. At this point, although no one would admit it, the Storm fans were thinking that this could be the teams first win of the season.
With the Storm leading 3-2 going into the 3rd period, the team would have to work very hard to maintain their lead. Belle Tire would not give up, scoring 3 unanswered goals in the 3rd making the score 5-3. The Storm, not wanting to give up this opportunity, kept pressing on. Nicholson would take control of the puck and find Lumley in the slot, who once again, made no mistake firing the puck past the goalie closing the gap to 1 goal. The Storm would get a chance on the power play late in the 3rd but with the goalie pulled, Belle Tire would seal the game beating the Storm in a hard fought battle 6-4.
Lumley - 2 G
Nicholson - 1 G 1A
Munday - 2 A
O'Neil - 1 G
GAME #2
The second game of the tournament would see the Storm face the OLU Blue on Sat AM at the Southgate Arena. With victory as close as it was the night before (and with everyone well rested...haha) the Storm would be ready to give it their all.
The game would start with both teams trying to find a way to make things happen. OLU would get the first opportunity on the powerplay. The Storm did a good job keeping the Blue from getting in too close. Nicholson would take control of the puck and make an end to end rush that would be finished off with a nice deke. That shorthanded goal would put the Storm up 1-0 after the 1st period. Shortly after that, Munday would rush down the ice, make a few nice moves of his own and put the Storm up 2-0. To help seal the deal in the 2nd, Zac Clark would put a beauty pass on the tape of Nicholson who would find himself on a breakaway. Once again, he would make a few moves and beat the goalie.
There would be no scoring in the 3rd period, giving the Storm a 3-0 victory...THE STORM WIN, but not just any win...a SHUTOUT WIN!!! Awesome job in net Travis Morningstar and congratulations to his D-Men; Zac Clark, Devin Dewhirst, Cameron Crowley and Joey Munday, who contributed well to this win.
Nicholson 2G
Munday 1 G
Clark 1 A
Morningstar W and Shutout
GAME #3
Only minutes before game #3 against the Rochester Serpents, the Storm would find themselves missing 3 players and a coach who hard a more difficult time finding the U of M Dearborn arena than everyone else. We aren't going to mention any names, but our "way down river" friends know who they are. Meanwhile, Ryan, Morgan, Cadence and MacKenzie were making friends with one of the parents from the game before theirs. The team took to the ice and if there were any nerves before this important game, one of the team helped everyone get over them, with a little comic relief. We aren't going to go into any details, but let's just say skate blades work much better when they aren't covered up.
Rochester would come out hard and take a 1-0 lead after 1 period. Nicholson would have a goal early in the 1st for the Storm when he found a way to break through the 2 Serpent D-men and beat the goalie.
The 2nd period would be all Serpents as Rochester would score 4 unanswered goals.
The 3rd period would see Morgan Lahey put the puck up in the top shelf from in close. Down 5-2 at this point the Storm would not give up, knowing that goals for and against could determine their future. O'Neil would make a beauty lead pass to Nicholson who would beat the goalie on a breakway making the score 5-3. The Storm would keep trying, but were unable to beat the Serpent goalie another time.
The outcome of this game would determine whether the team would move on to the semis. Although the final score was 6-3 Rochester, the Storms goals for and against throughout the tourney would sneak them in the backdoor to the semis.
Nicholson 2 G
Lahey 1 G
O'Neil 1 A
Game #4
With the Storm earning a "bonus" game in the tourney, they would have to bring their best game to face their neighbours to the north, the Sarnia Sting Tier II. The game would start off slowly with neither team getting too close the goalies. As the game went on, the fatique of the Storm appeared evident as they just seemed to run out of steam. The final score would be 6-0 Sting, but the team needs to be very proud of themselves for working so hard and giving the fans so much to cheer for in this 3 day tournament. GOOD WORK STORM!!