The Gillespie's Tree Service U15 Red Devils travelled to Vaughan this weekend to participate in the Vaughn Kings Classic.
The action got underway on Friday with a one-sided contest with Okanagan Hockey Ontario. Goals came early and often as the team ran away with a 15-1 victory. Finding the scoresheet were Austin Preston (3G, 1A), Cohen Stewart (2G, 2A), Coen Lowry (2G, 1A), Trent Clow (1G, 5A), John Korver (1G, 2A), Ewan Dahle (1G, 3A), Lawson Minifie (1G, 2A), Jax Martin (2G), Lauchlan Whelan (1G, 1A) and Andrew Laurin (1G). Rory Young picked up a very chilly win in net.
The evening contest on Friday saw a much more balanced game with the Markham Waxers. The squad took to the ice in a physical affair looking to avenge a regular season loss in their only meeting so far this year. The game was a scoreless draw through the first period before Ausin Preston opened the scoring off a nice feed from John Korver in the second. The 1-0 lead would hold through the end of the second and most of the third before Trent Clow sealed the deal into an empty net. Nathan Ferriss was solid in net in the victory. The 2-0 win tidied up a perfect record on Friday and left it all to play for on Saturday.
An early Saturday afternoon contest with the host Vaughan Kings got Saturday rolling. After a back and forth first period the game remained scoreless, but Andrew Laurin got the ball rolling with a shorthanded marker with Lauchlan Whelan picking up the helper early in the 2nd frame. Vaughan would reel off the next 4 goals after a few dubious penalty calls. The 2nd intermission brought renewed life to the squad with Whelan burying a shot from the right dot and John Korver banging in a rebound off an Austin Preston shot. Unfortunately, that was as close as the comeback would get and the team fell to 2-1 in pool play but could still advance with a win over UCC Blue on Saturday night.
With UCC only needing a tie to move on and QRD needing a win, the game was a tight checking scoreless affair through two periods. Lauchlan Whelan got the powerplay going burying the first goal of the game after a nice passing play with Andrew Laurin and Spencer Harold. UCC would come back and tie the game shortly after, but the squad would not be denied. This time it was Laurin's turn to finish off the passing of Harold and Whelan for what would be the eventual game winner. Laurin then added a long-range empty netter to seal the deal and set up a semi-final show down with the Barrie Colts.
In the semi-final, the team went down 2-0 before getting on the board in the second frame on the power play with Trent Clow finishing off some slick passing from Brechyn Aird and Andrew Laurin. Barrie would get one back before the power play struck again for QRD, this time 5 on 3. Laurin buried a rebound off a Ewan Dahle shot, Lauchlan Whelan picked up an assist as well. QRD would strike early in the third to tie the game. Laurin struck again from distance after a cross-ice feed on the move from Whelan. The rest of the third solved nothing and off to overtime they went. Unfortunately Barrie scored the next one to end the tournament for QRD.
The squad has a big weekend coming up with a pair of road trips. Saturday sees a 6:30 puck drop in Innisfil against the archnemesis Barrie Colts. Sunday sees our first game of the season against the York Simcoe Express in Aurora. Puck drop is at 5pm.