This past weekend saw the culmination of a wonderful Peewee Local League
season as the team headed to Parry Sound for their Championship Weekend
Head coach Chris dePeuter has the team playing very well lately and they wasted no time in getting started this weekend with a quick 7-1 dispatching of Huntsville Main Street Dental on Saturday afternoon. The second game of the day saw another meeting with familiar foes, Huntsville Heather Douglas, but Almaguin goalie Josh dePeuter stood tall, shutting out Huntsville 5-0.
After a team dinner, some fun in the hotel pool and a good night’s sleep, the team hit the ice early again the next morning as they took on South Muskoka’s Call of the Wild at the Bobby Orr Community Centre. With no let up from the previous day, Almaguin scored early and often, cruising to a 9-1 win and setting up a day with host Parry Sound 1 in the Championship game.
The final game was a high energy, back and forth nail-biter from the opening puck drop. The boisterous crowd was unable to will either team to an early lead as the first period ended in a scoreless draw. The fast pace continued in the second and Parry Sound’s Kyle Hickey was finally able to open the scoring, narrowly sneaking one past dePeuter to give the Shamrocks a 1-0 lead after two periods of play.
Refusing to give up, Almaguin captain Connor McLaren fed teammate Markus Krajinovic in the slot and Krajinovic made no mistake, beating the Parry Sound goaltender over the glove to get things back to even, then with just four minutes remaining in the game and the fans on the edge of their seats, Almaguin spark plug Brayden Moore snuck in alone to net the ahead goal, putting the Ice Devils up 2-1.
That goal would be enough as the team rallied together with a strong defensive effort to preserve the win and proudly hoist the 2016-17 MPSLL Peewee Cup! For his sterling play in all four games, especially the final, Brayden Moore was named Almaguin’s MVP.
Congratulations to the team on a great season and a huge thank you to all of the parents, volunteers and of course to the team staff of Head Coach Chris dePeuter, assistants Michael McLaren and Ben Hancocks, trainer Melissa Hancocks and this season’s Team Manager, Becki Carleton. Well done everyone!