Wowwhat a season. The Leveque Brothers / Rock Breakers Peewee girls cameto fruition in the spring of 2016 combining girls from BancroftHaliburton Minden Wilberforce and Marmora. When they stepped on theice for their first tournament in September they played liked theyhad been a team forever and continued that way all season long.
Thispast weekend the girls travelled to the GTA to participate in theOWHA provincials bringing the top 16 peewee C girls teams together tobattle it out for the title of all Ontario Champs. The Jets faced offagainst the South Huron Sabres in an 8 a.m. game on Friday. Earlymorning games had not been our friend all year but the girls dug downdeep and pulled out a great 3-0 win to start the tournament and toget the pre-tournament nerves out of the way. Goals scored by MeganJenkins and Peyton Armstrong (2) with assists going to Chloe“Fireball” Billings Ava Smith and Hailey Hudder.
The second gamesaw the girls come up against the Brockville Angels. It was ahard-fought battle back and forth with the girls coming up with a 4-4tie. Goals scored by Elyse Ives (2) Billings and Armstrong assistsgoing to H. Hudder (2) Armstrong (2) and Avery Coens. Game 3 of thetournament was a much-needed tie or win position to be able toadvance as they matched up against the Lucan Irish. The girls knewthe importance of the game and stepped it up to pull out a verydominant 4-0 win. Goals scored by Olivia Villamere Ryan Rupnow andArmstrong (2) with assists going to Jenkins Ives and Rupnow. Withthe win the girls moved into the quarter finals to face theGoulbourn Rockets a team that beat us previously this season in thePeterborough tournament. Knowing the hard game that was ahead ofthem the girls came out firing on all cylinders to give the fans avery exciting game that needed overtime to decide the outcome.
2:51into the overtime period after a fantastic save by Bella Smolen forthe Jets Elyse Ives fired one past the Rockets’ goalie to set thecrowd and bench into a huge celebration knowing the girls were off tosemifinals with the 3-2 win. Goals scored in regulation were byVillamere and Emma Tidey with the assists going to Rupnow and Tidey.
Thesemi-final game Sunday morning was against the Walkerton Capitals whothe girls faced the previous weekend and had a score to settle withthem. Again feeling the pressure of an early morning game the girlsfound another level to compete on and put on show for their fans witha 4-0 win to send them too the finals. Goals scored by RupnowArmstrong (2) and Tidey with assists going to Villamere H.Hudder(2) Coens (2) Smith and Ives.
Thefinal game was against a very strong fast Timmins team who had a bitmore juice left in the tank than we did. The Jets played witheverything they had and left it all on the ice making their coachesfamilies and fans very proud. They came up short with a 4-0 loss oneempty net goal but did not hang their heads as they accepted theirsilver medals placing second in All Ontario. Bella Smolen the Jetsgoalie played phenomenally all weekend coming up with huge saves andwas large in charge in the net.
Whatan amazing season these girls had. Thank you to the coachesfamilies fans and to the Leveque Brothers and Rock Breakers forbeing such amazing sponsors it would not have been possible withoutall the support we received.
Submittedby Melissa Armstrong
