The Huntsville Novice Rep Otters were impressive this past weekend as they took to the ice in their first tournament of the season in Parry Sound. The young squad walked away from the tourney with two wins under their belt thanks to some outstanding offense, solid defense and unbelievable goaltending.
The Novice team's first opponent of the tournament was the pesky Hagersville Devils.
The Otters looked confident heading into the first period and came out flying with an early goal by assistant captain, Jackson Durnan.
But less than two minutes later, the Devils went on the attack. Otters net minder, Riley Knox kicked out several attempts by the Devils offense before the opponents managed to slip one into the Otters net to even the score at one.
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The full ice action continued throughout the second and by the end of twenty minutes, the Otters were up 3-1. But the Otters didn’t stop there, adding three more markers before the end of the game. Scoring for the Novice team was Jesse Taylor, Preston Standing and Logan Therrien with helpers from Blake Punchard, Ben Power, Abbigail Huke, Durnan and Cohen Poore.
The Otters defensive core battled hard to preserve the lead and Otters goalie Ian Adams made some amazing game saving stops late in the third to give his team the win and an edge heading into the second game of the tournament.
Next up for the Huntsville squad was the high soaring Eagles from East Gwillumbury. The Otters struggled early in the game allowing 4 unanswered goals before the end of a frantic first period. But in true Otters style, the Novice team dug deep and managed to solve the Eagles goaltender for a few goals of their own before the end of the second.
The Otters defensive quartet of Ryley DiGiacomo, Cohen Poore, Nate Johnson and Gray Patey were determined to protect their net from any further attack with solid play at the blue line. The scrappy Otters defensemen held their own, repeatedly turning away aggressive attempts by the Eagles offense to enter the zone.
The Otters played well but surrendered to the eventual tournament champions by a score of 7-3.
Early Sunday morning saw the Otters face the Midland Centennials in one of the most evenly matched contests of the tournament.
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The Otters defense got the team fired up early after a blazing point blank shot on net from D-man Ryley DiGiacomo and a dazzling dangle from his line mate Cohen Poore. The Otters pressure was unmatched in the first period but at the end of ten, the game remained scoreless.
Huntsville finally got on the board mid-way through the second when Gray Patey sent Logan Therrien in on a breakaway and he found the back of the net for the team’s first goal of the game. The score remained 1-0 until late in the third when the Centennials closed the gap by netting a power play goal with only 4 minutes to go.
Throughout the game, Otters wingers Ben Power and Kalvin Crozier owned the corners digging out countless loose pucks and standing strong against the physical Midland forwards.
Goalie Ian Adams was put to the test late in the game with a barrage of shots from the Centennial attackers but he managed to shut the door and set the stage for a nail-biting finish. With 24 seconds left on the clock, power forward Jesse Taylor capped off an exciting game with a top shelf winner to seal the score at 2-1 Otters.
Way to go Novice Otters!
You should all be very proud of your hard work, sportsmanship and how well you represented Huntsville.
Great job!