Atom AE Southern Counties Champions Saturday April 1, 2017 – Port Dover, ON This was no April Fools joke
Atom AE SC Final Game was scheduled for Sat at 10:30 am in Port Dover. Tillsonburg (first overall) vs. Caledonia (second overall). The game was delayed by almost 30 minutes due a double overtime in the game ahead of the Atom’s.
The boys met Tillsonburg 10 times this season (2-6-2) – including a very exciting OMHA playdown series that went 6 games. Caledonia did not win the series, but they certainly pushed themselves to go further than expected.
With the help of Coach Chris’ cranked tunes in the dressing room on Saturday, and the inspired words of Coach Andrew, Jay, Eric & Ken, the boys were fired up. The squad hit the ice knowing they were the underdogs but they were out to win one last time.
The boys over came a few obstacles in this game. Caledonia was leading 3-0 going into the 3rd. Tillsonburg scored twice midway through the 3rd, making the score 3-2. Then with less than 4 minutes to go Caledonia gets 2 tough penalties. Tillsonburg decided to capitalize on the man advantage even further by pulling their goalie - making it a 6 on 3.
Caledonia cleared the puck a few times just missing the empty net. Finally they were able to put one in the empty net, score was 4-2. One penalty over and 2 minutes left in the 3rd . Tillsonburg continues to have 6 skaters on the ice, while Caledonia has 4 for the remaining couple minutes. Tillsonburg scores with less than a minute - now 4-3.
Caledonia pulls out all the stops to hold onto the lead and finish the game 4-3. It was an exciting game from start to finish – each one of the boys playing their best game of the season under the direction of their awesome coaches. These 15 boys came to win and despite their past record against Tilly all season long – it came down to one final game – IT WAS SWEET VICTORY FOR CALEDONIA !!!
Shannon Drumm
