The Foley Bus Lines Peewee Red Devils travelled to Buffalo
this past weekend to attend “The Cup – North American Championships”. The team provided a roller coaster ride of
ups and downs; yet in the end, the Devils returned home with their heads held
high with a great performance against the #1 ranked Toronto Junior Canadians.
In Game 1 on Friday Jan 13, the Devils faced the highly ranked Mid Fairfield Jr. Rangers. It was all Rangers in this game as the Rangers came out strong and didn’t let up. The Rangers made their statement after falling to the Devils last year. The final score was 10 to 0 for the Rangers in the opening game of the tournament. Corbin Votary and Andrew Munro both saw rubber in this game and shared the loss. After losing the first game in such a competitive tournament, the Devils would need to win the remaining games for any hope in making it to the playoffs on Sunday.
In game 2 on Friday Jan 13 the Devils took on the Oakland Jr Grizzlies. Oakland scored first, but the Devils answered with a goal from Cooper Matthews to end the opening frame in a 1 to 1 tie. Liam Filip and Connor Hunt assisted on the Matthews goal. Oakland would be the first to score again in the 2nd period, but Matthews would answer again on feeds from Blake Ellis and Liam Filip to keep the game tied going into the 3rd. It would be Corbin Roach that would score the only and winning goal in the third period to end the game in favour of the Devils 3 to 2. Trevor Hoskin assisted on the Roach goal as Andrew stood tall on duty in the Devils cage.
In Game 3 on Saturday Jan 14, the Devils faced the top team from the SCTA, the Southern Tier Admirals. The Devils opened the game by taking a two-goal lead in the first period on goals from Trevor Hoskin and Dalyn Wakely. Liam Filip and Cooper Matthews provided the first period assists. The second period saw both teams score as the Devils maintained their lead going into the third period. Cooper Matthews found the back of the Admirals net, assisted by Donovan McCoy. Dalyn Wakely scored twice in the 3rd to seal the win on feeds from Conner Hunt and Donovan McCoy. Final score was 5 to 2 as Corbin Votary had a good performance in the Devils cage.
Game 4 on Saturday Jan 14 saw the Devils face the tough Rochester Monarchs. The Devils came out flying as Dalyn Wakely scored just over one minute into the game on feeds from Connor Hunt and Cooper Matthews. Just 24 seconds later, Trevor Hoskin found the back of the Monarchs net on a breakaway. The Monarch’s proved to be persistent as they scored twice to end the first period in a 2 to 2 tie. Liam Filip would break the tie in the second by lighting the lamp for the Devils as Dalyn Wakely and Corbin Roach provided the assists. Isaac Brown scored half way through the third period to score the Devils 4th goal on way to a 4 to 2 win over the Monarchs. Rheydan McCoy and Kendrick Webster assisted on the Brown goal. Andrew Munro persevered and kept the Devils in the game with a great performance.
The 3 and 1 record in the round robin, proved to be enough to get the Devils a “wild card” spot in the quarterfinals, but they would face the #1 Ranked Toronto Jr Canadiens.
In the Quarterfinal Game against the Jr. Canadians, the Devils came out strong and drew first blood as Dalyn Wakely found the back of the Canadiens net on assists from Cooper Matthews and Corbin Roach. The Devils had a 1 to 0 lead until late in the 2nd when the Canadiens made it a 1 to 1 tie going into the 3rd period. The Canadiens scored with only 3 min left in the game to take the lead and added an empty net goal to take the win over the Devils by a score of 3 to 1. Corbin Votary had a solid performance in the Devils cage.
The Devils returned home on a positive note with good performances by all and prepare to return to ETA action this week as they take on the Central Ontario Wolves on Jan 22 at the Madoc Community Centre with a puck drop at 1pm.