The HockeyStickMan U16 Red Devils squad travelled to the Toronto Titans Showcase Tournament to round out their pre-season play.
They got rolling on Thursday afternoon with a contest against the Guelph Gryphons. The goals came early and often for the Devils starting with Lauchlan Whelan forcing a turnover by the Guelph D and burying the first of the game. Shortly after that Lawson Minifie capitalized on another Guelph turnover to put the Devils up 2-0. Before the first period ended, Trent Clow banged in a Ewan Dahle rebound and Andrew Laurin tapped in a Whelan pass to go up 4-0. Austin Ottenhof picked up his first as a member of QRD on the powerplay in the second period finishing off some nifty passing from Cooper Poskin and Clow. Guelph would get one back before the end of the frame but Quinte would take a 5-1 lead into the break. Coen Lowry potted on the powerplay from Ottenhof and Laurin before a lengthy delay spent trying to solve ice issues. After over an hour, the Red Devils picked up right where they left off with Laurin burying a rebound off a Clow crossbar. Austin Preston netted one finishing a nice passing play with Ottenhof and Coen Lowry to grab an 8-1 win out of the gate.
Sarnia-Lambton was up next Friday morning and the squad was trying to keep the offense going. The Devils jumped out to an early 1-0 lead with a Jack Sutton point blast going off a Sarnia stick into the top corner. Ewan Dahle picked up his first of the tournament off a Lawson Minifie rebound for a 2-0 scoreline. Some intense Jax Martin pressure lead to an easy tap in for Austin Preston to round out the scoring in the first. Preston added his second of the game in the second frame off the foot of a Sarnia defender for the only scoring in that period and a 4-0 lead for QRD. The Devils would give one back on a 5 on 3 penalty kill, but that was as close as Sarnia would get with Dahle getting a short handed marker and Preston rounding out the hat trick for a 6-1 final. Helpers on the last 2 goals going to Austin Pettey, Andrew Laurin and Coen Lowry.
Friday afternoon saw a tight checking affair with the Toronto Jr Red Wings. As was the case in the first 2 games the squad jumped out to an early first period lead. Lauchlan Whelan was first on the score sheet finishing some nifty passing from Austin Preston and Andrew Laurin. Austin Ottenhof would capitalize on a defensive miscue from the Red Wings to round out the first period scoring. This would prove to be all the offence QRD would need. Despite a furious comeback attempt by Toronto, the squad would hold on for a 2-1 win and set up a Saturday morning showdown with Don Mills to settle top spot in the pool.
In one of the better games of the round robin, an intense battle saw the Flyers take a 1-0 lead into the third period. Andrew Laurin would fire home the equalizer on the power play with a helper going to Austin Pettey. The game would finish in a draw and QRD would take top spot in the pool as mathematics was on their side.
A date with the powerhouse Markham Majors was on deck Saturday afternoon in the round of 16 in the tournament. The offense unfortunately dried up at the worst possible time with the Devils only mustering one goal off the stick of Trent Clow with Lauchlan Whelan and Andrew Laurin picking up helpers bringing to a close a great early season run.
The coaches and players are looking forward to kicking off the regular season this Saturday Oct 4 against a seemingly much improved York Simcoe Express squad. Puck drop is at 3:45 on the Mackay pad at the Wellness Centre. looking forward to seeing all our fans back in the rink!