Again this year the Storm failed to grab a gold or silver but consistency has to count for something. It was a real nail biter but a shootout win earned a very resilient Storm Midget B team a bronze medal at the North Metro Championships for the 3rd straight year.
Before the game, the team sang a rousing version of "Chasing Cars" by the S
now Patrol lead by Maestro Bruce followed by a passionate sermon from Reverend Ross. It can't get any better than that. The only thing in our way was the Mississauga Chiefs who has topped off an undefeated season with - a loss in the Semis to Orillia. And in sports some very strange things can happen and Mississauga failed to register a win in the Championship weekend and walked away empty handed.The game had many heroes. Biggest perhaps was Alisha who once again shut down Mississauga as she had all last season to keep the Storm in the game. She made one great save after another in the 3rd period and overtime as the Storm began to run out of gas. Our penalty killers again played strong games including a two-man disadvantage for 1:20 in the 3rd period.
The Storm scored the first goal at 5:56 of the 2nd period on a goal by Heather while on the power play. That lead held until early in the 3rd period when Mississauga also scored on the powerplay. From that point on the Storm team was on the ropes for much of the remainder of the game and into overtime although there were several times when it looked like the game could have been won. During the shootout, Jasmine was the first shooter and tried to shoot through the goalies legs but got her in the pads. The Mississauga shooter tried to deke but Alisha covered up down low and made the save. Next shooter up was Heather who cut to the goalie's blocker side and lifted the puck over her shoulder. Again, Alisha stopped the Mississauga player as the Storm spilled onto the ice to celebrate the 2-1 victory.
In the Gold Medal game, Orillia surprised Markham-Stouffville by a score of 2-1.
Note: The original North Metro results were reversed. It turns out that Markham-Stouffville won the gold medal. Thanks Paige for pointing that out.
The only other Storm team at the North Metro Championships was the Bantam AA team who were knocked out in the Quarter-Final match.
So in two weeks we go to the really big show - the Provincial Championships. Our first game will be against the North Metro Champions, Orillia Terriers.
