The HockeyStickMan U16 Red Devils had a very busy week leading into the holidays with four games happening.
Monday saw a late night adventure to Markham to take on the Waxers. The squad scored early and often in a 9 goal offensive explosion. Lauchlan Whelan got things rolling travelling most of the length of the ice after Austin Pettey and Coen Lowry got things started in their own end. Lawson Minifie was up next batting in a Ewan Dahle rebound. Andrew Laurin was the 3rd different goal scorer to find the sheet after a solid blue line play by Andrew Dewar kept the puck alive and Austin Ottenhof hit Laurin in the slot. Jax Martin forced a turnover along the boards and drove the net and Whelan tapped in the rebound for his second of the game. Trent Clow forced a turnover deep in Markham territory and Whelan finished off the scoring play to complete his hat trick. Lowry fired home the 6th marker for QRD after Dewar hit Laurin with a breakout pass and Laurin deftly fired a lob pass into the neutral zone for Lowry to skate on to. Martin was next up to find the back of the net off a Kallum Phillips point blast from a cross ice feed from Clow. Austin Preston buried a pair in the closing minutes with help from Cooper Poskin and Laurin on the first one and Poskin and Dahle on the second to round out a tidy 9-2 win.
The Whitby Wildcats came to town on Thursday evening and the offensive onslaught continued for QRD. Lauchlan Whelan got the party started on a clinical breakout with help from Jax Martin and Trent Clow. Austin Ottenhof hit Jack Sutton for a blast from the point that Andrew Laurin tipped home for goal number two. Cooper Poskin fired from the point and Ewan Dahle tapped in the rebound to make it a 3-0 game. Austin Preston was up next on the power play with help from Kallum Phillips and Ottenhof. Ottenhof then found the back of the net on his own after Sutton forced a Whitby turnover a their blue line. Whelan tallied his second of the night after gathering an errant Whitby clearing attempt. Dahle rounded out the scoring with his second of the contest burying another clearing attempt from Whitby to finish off a 7-0 win. Nathan Ferriss picked up the shutout in net.
Saturday brought the return match and the end of the season series with Markham. After some good puck movement by Ewan Dahle and Lawson Minifie, Austin Preston opened the scoring early in the game. Coen Lowry won a draw back to Andrew Laurin who wired a shot home to make it a 2-0 QRD advantage. Jax Martin caused a Markham turnover in the Quinte end and Lauchlan Whelan did the rest to add to Quinte's tally. The Minifie-Dahle-Preston line stayed hot as Preston buried his second of the game early in the 3rd. Laurin added his second of the contest as well after some good work down low by Austin Ottenhof. Ewan Dahle rounded out the scoring adding a shorthanded marker from Minifie to make the final 6-4 Quinte.
The final game of the week was a highly anticipated road match-up with the Ajax-Pickering Raiders. Coen Lowry opened the scoring burying a nice cross ice feed from Andrew Laurin. Lauchlan Whelan was up next tipping home a Cooper Poskin point shot. Whelan would score his second of the game forcing an Ajax turnover deep in their end to open a 3-0 lead. Unfortunately Ajax would generate a comeback for the ages and take the OT victory. This still allowed QRD to pick up seven of eight points on the week and put themselves into great position heading into the home stretch of the season.
After short holiday break, the squad travels to Toronto for the Marlboros Holiday Classic Tournament from Dec 27-30. Pool play brings games against the Toronto Nationals, Eastern Ontario Wild, Halton Hurricanes and Elgin-Middlesex Canucks. All games will be available for streaming on the Poskin Sports Network on YouTube and some will be available on LiveBarn.
The players and staff of the U16 Red Devils would like to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays! We will see you all again in the New Year.