The HockeyStickMan U16 Red Devils travelled to Southwestern Ontario this weekend to participate in the Wendy Dufton Memorial Tournament presented by the London Jr Knights.
Things got underway for the squad against a well drilled Upper Canada College Blues side on Thursday afternoon. The Devils played from behind most of the game dropping their first of the tournament. Lawson Minifie provided the lone marker on the afternoon on the power play with a nice feed from Andrew Laurin.
Friday morning saw a rematch from their last tournament with the Toronto Jr Red Wings. The first period saw Quinte jump out to an early 1-0 lead off the stick of Austin Ottenhof with help from Austin Pettey. The Red Wings would score the next 3 goals and take a 3-1 lead into the third frame. Lawson Minifie dragged the Devils back within 1 with helpers going to Austin Preston and Colton Dee but that is as close as the Devils would get as they dropped their second of the tournament.
Desperately needing a win to keep their hopes of making the elimination round alive, the squad took to the ice on Friday afternoon against the Sun County Panthers. The boys finally looked like they had their legs underneath them jumping out to a 3-0 lead after the first stanza. Trent Clow pulled a draw straight back to Austin Ottenhof who buried his fist of the game to get the ball rolling. Lawson Minifie was next on the board burying an Austin Preston cross crease feed and Ewan Dahle forced a turnover and hit Ottenhof in the slot where he potted his second of the period to build a 3-0 lead after one. Preston then tipped in a Colton Dee shot from the point for a 4-0 lead. Sun County would get one back before Minifie added his second of the afternoon with another great effort down low from Dahle. Nathan Ferriss picked up the win in net and a final score of 5-2 was a great step to try getting to the elimination games.
Saturday morning saw another must win contest against the Oakville Rangers. Austin Ottenhof would get the scoring started early taking a feed from Trent Clow deep in his own end and finishing 160 feet away opening up a 1-0 lead. Oakville would respond to tie the game before Coen Lowry would finish off a pretty passing play from Lawson Minifie and Lauchlan Whelan to restore the Devils one goal lead. Kallum Phillips jumped into the play and buried a chance from Whelan and Autin Preston tallied on the power play with help from Ottenhof to give QRD a 4-1 advantage. Despite a furious comeback from Oakville, Quinte held on for a 4-3 win and would have to play a waiting game to see how the math mathed. Landon White picked up the win.
Fortunately the tie breakers were on the Devils side and they earned a date with the Huron Perth Lakers in the round of 16. A back and forth affair that saw a lengthy delay and eventual rink change saw the teams locked in a scoreless tie at the end of the first. Lauchlan Whelan got the scoring going for QRD in the second, but the boys would give up 2 straight to go down 2-1. Colton Dee would get the teams back to level but the Lakers would add one more before the end of the second period to take a 3-2 lead into the final frame. The Red Devils decided enough was enough and scored 3 straight goals in the third. Whelan got the ball rolling on the power play before Austin Ottenhof and Whelan would each add short handed markers to seal the win more than 3 hours after puck drop. Nathan Ferriss shut the door in net to pick up his second win of the tournament.
Less than 12 hours after the end of that game, the boys took to the ice for another rematch against the Don Mills Flyers in the quarter finals. QRD would spot the Flyers a 2 goal lead going into the third period before launching a furious comeback. Lauchlan Whelan lit the lamp with Quinte short handed off a nice feed from Andrew Laurin. Whelan would strike again for the tying goal with 33s left in the game to send it to overtime. Alas, it was not to be as the tournament came to an end for the squad in the overtime frame.
The lone action for the squad this week comes in the form of their first regular season road trip. The team is looking forward to viewing all the colours fall has to offer as we travel north to Rama to take on the North Central Predators. Game time is 3:30pm on Saturday at the MASK arena. All the action should be available to stream on LiveBarn and the Poskin Sport Network on YouTube!