The U16 E360S Quinte Red Devils participated in the Wendy Dufton Memorial ‘AAA’ Hockey Tournament at the Western Fair Sports Centre in London on the weekend, posting a respectable 2-and-2 record with their only two losses coming to the eventual champion and runner-up.
Quinte finished third in their six-team division during the round-robin segment of the U16 portion of the tournament, beating the Markham Waxers 3-1 and the Brantford 99ers 4-3, but losing to Detroit Little Caesars 5-2, after holding a 2-0 lead in the first period and dropping a 2-1 decision to the Toronto Junior Canadians.
Quinte opened the tournament Thursday, taking a 2-0 lead against Little Caesar's on goals by Mac Chisholm and Ty Leavitt in the first period of the 5-2 loss. Blake Munnings assisted on Chisholm’s goal.
In the 3-1 win over Markham on Friday, the Red Devils scored a goal in each period with the winner coming on a Munnings marker in the second set to break a 1-1 tie. Nate Rashotte and Cole Rowat picked up assists on the play while Leavitt and Isaac Tracze rounded out Quinte’s scoring. Chisholm, Wyatt Whalen and Pierson Clute also supplied assists.
Later the same day Nick Colson’s unassisted goal early in the game gave the Red Devils a 1-0 lead over the Junior Canadians, but the Toronto team netted two goals of their own in the final five minutes of the third period to steal the 2-1 victory.
Saturday’s match against Brantford was decided when Munnings scored with one second remaining in the game to hand his team the 4-3 win. Henry Fisher, Ryan Foley and Chisholm counted Quinte’s other goals with assists coming from Ryan Sherwin, Tracze, Colson and Clute.
Lily Reid and Ayden Mullen shared the Devils’ goaltending duties, playing two games apiece.
The Wendy Dufton was the second tournament of the fall for the U16 Red Devils. Prior to London, they were in North York for the Toronto Titans Tournament, which ran from September 26-29, where they finished in a second-place tie in their division, sporting the same 2-and-2 record.
In that one, Quinte beat the Niagara North Stars and Oakland Junior Grizzlies after losing to the Guelph Gryphons and Toronto Marlboros.