Caledonia Thunder U11 Team 1 competed in Hagersville's Murray Johnson Memorial Tournament from November 24-26...
Caledonia opened the tournament on Friday against Dunnville, who had been undefeated up to this point in the regular season. The Thunder came out of the gates with energy, with Nolan Gilbert and Fletcher Folk collecting goals in the first period. In the 2nd period, Zac A would score a hat-trick to give Caledonia a commanding 5-0 lead after two periods of play. While Dunnville would score a goal at the beginning of the third, strong goaltending by Dawson F, and solid defence from Niko P, Mason A, Layton H, Bennet H, and Davin S shut the door to give Caledonia the 5-1 victory.
On Saturday, Caledonia would play the Simcoe Warriors. The Thunder opened with strong offence. Wingers Jo T and Corbin D would press the attack early in the period, before Callum W would set up Fletcher F for a goal a minute and 10 seconds into the game. Nolan G would collect an assist on Zac A's goal to give Caledonia the 2-0 lead, before Fletcher F went on a scoring streak, collecting 3 more goals in the period (one assist to Mason A) to give Caledonia the 5-0 lead after one period of play. While Simcoe would score early in the 2nd period, goalie Davin S and strong defence would shut down the Warriors the rest of the way. Callum W, Zac A, and Spencer K would all add a goal each to Caledonia's total, with Dominic P and Nolan G collecting assists, giving the Thunder the 8-1 win and clinching 1st place in their division.
Caledonia would face Hagersville #2 in the "A" Championship on Sunday. While Caledonia fell behind 2-0 early in the game, the Thunder would play hard the rest of the way, but unfortunately couldn't put one past a strong Hawks defence and goaltending. Hagersville collected an empty-net goal at the end to seal the 3-0 win.
Overall, the Thunder played some of their best hockey of the season, with great teamwork, passing, and skating that shows it will be an exciting season for this team!
