Caledonia U11 Team 1 started off the new year playing their best hockey of the season.
On Wednesday, January 4, Team 1 opened the 2023 portion of their schedule against Caledonia Team 2 in the first matchup of the season between these two teams.
Team 1 opened the scoring a couple minutes into the game, with Chase W scoring, assisted by Nate C to give Team 1 the early lead. Despite a couple of big saves by goalie Davin S, Team 2 scored before the end of the first period, evening the score at 1. The 2nd period remained scoreless, as the defence of Blake L, Molly F, Nate C, Teddy B, Drew G, Noah K and James G kept the Team 2 offence at bay.
In the third period of play, Fletcher F scored a minute into the period to give Team 1 the lead, assisted by Zach A. Davin S continued to turn away shots by the Team 2 offence until a late goal with 2 minutes left evened the score, the final result a 2-2 tie in a fantastic game.
On Saturday, January 7, Team 1 decided that it was time to play their best game of the entire season to this point. After falling behind to Glanbrook Team 4 1-0, the Caledonia offence went to work. James G, Noah K (assist by James G) and Layton H (assist by Jaxon C), all scored to give Caledonia the 3-1 lead after one period of play. Caledonia continued to work as a team, passing to one another and pushing the attack in the 2nd period. Goals by Noah K, Fletcher F (assisted by Violet E and Layton H), Chase W, and Teddy B (assist by James G and Drew G) gave Caledonia the 7-2 lead after two periods of play. Caledonia continued to play well the rest of the game, with solid defence from the pairing of Drew G and Nixon Y helping seal the victory for Caledonia, winning 7-4.
On Sunday, January 8, Caledonia travelled to Dunnville to take on the 1st place team in the entire league. Caledonia kept the game close throughout the whole contest in the face of adversity, with goals by Chase W and James G (assist by Molly F), and many great saves by goalie Nixon Y keeping Caledonia in the game until the final buzzer, losing 5-2.
Caledonia is looking forward to the Challenge Cup this coming weekend, where they open the tournament in a rematch with Caledonia Team 2 on Friday afternoon.
Photo: Fletcher F gives Caledonia the 2-1 lead in action against Caledonia Team 2.