“Da Boys” of Twisted Lemon - Bantam 1- Bring home Silver, News, Bantam LL1, 2011-2012 (Cayuga Minor Hockey)

Da Boys ventured to Hespeler Shamrocks Olympic Major Bantam tournament March 15 -18^th. Game opener saw us matched up against a very big Oakville White Moose squad; however Da Boys were on a mission and never lost sight of their challenge.

Both teams spent the first part of the first period feeling each other out with some good end to end plays and good  goaltending by Cayuga’s Josh Grant however it was not till the last few minutes of the first period when Noah Lymburner fed a nice pass to Ben Polawksi who tucked it nicely behind the Oakville goaltender. That sparked Da Boys and they continued the battle and 3 minutes into the 2^nd period Dan Burgess let a rocket of shot go to beat the Oakville goalie for our 2^nd goal of the night. Oakville managed to answer back with one of their own but Da Boys replied back once again with a beauty feed by Lucas Hart to James Tattersal who flew down the wing and let a bullet of shot go to make it 3-1. Oakville never gave up and kept the pressure on but everything from that point was turned away by goaltender Josh Grant and our defensive team’s of Rob Roy, Nick Shurr,Lukas Hart, Tom Robichaud who made sure no one was going to get a second chance.

At the .54 sec left in the game Dan Burgess fed Tom Robichaud a point shot which found the front of net where Josh Verardo tipped it in for the 4^th goal of the night and to end the game 4-1 Cayuga. MVP for the game was awarded to Tom Robichaud for his outstanding defensive playing.

Game 2 saw Da Boys face the Host team Hespeler 1 and Cayuga was ready, coming off a high from the win the night before Da Boys knew what they had to do and executed it perfectly and never let up. Noah Lymburner opened the scoring for Cayuga 1 minute in unassisted followed by Noah Baird 2 minutes in assisted by Nick Shurr. Rob Roy would end the period with a point shot fed by Nick Shurr. Noah Lymburner opens the second period with his 2^nd goal assited by James Tattersal, followed again by Noah Baird assisted by James Tattersal. Noah Lymburner continued with a feed pass by Tom Robichaud for Noah’s hat trick that was followed by James Tattersal goal fed by Rob Roy and Nick Shurr. It would not be perfect unless both Noah’s could get hat tricks so Nick Shurr sent Noah Baird up for a beauty goal and his 3^rd goal of the night. The Host team tried and had several chances but the door was closed on them every time by our goalkeep Carmine Marchese who earned the shut-out. Final score for the game 8-0 Cayuga. MVP for the game Noah Lymburner

Each period was awared 2 points for the win and 4 points overall for the entire game win, after 2 pre-lim games Cayuga finished 1^st with a perfect 20 points

3^rd game-semi final (1^st vs 4^th)

Oakville was back and fired up to knock Cayuga off the 1^st place spot and contention for the gold medal.

Oakville opened the scoring in the 1^st and Cayuga found themselves battling up hill and 2 minutes later Noah Lymburner managed to get free to get one past the Oakville goalkeep to tie up the game at 1-1.  It was only 2 minutes later when Ben Polawksi set up Noah Baird for his first goal of the game and go ahead goal. It was a battle from there as Oakville was determined and they came on strong, finally with minutes left in the second Oakville managed to get one in to tie up the game at 2-2. The 3^rd period was a battle back and forth but no one was able to net another goal which means sudden death over time and structured as follows: 5 minute OT and 1 minute intervals- 5vs5,4vs4,3vs3,2v2,1vs1, 1vs 1-no goalie. This is all strategy and coaching from this point on who goes when and who is the last man standing. Well this had to be the most intense OT in some time as the coaches and crowd were just on their toes! The teams battled down to 2vs2 when Coach Steve leaned over to Noah Baird and said “Please end it hear, do it for me” and with that James Tattersal and Noah Baird went out for the face off  for the  2 vs 2. Noah won the face off back to James who managed to fake a move around the one attacker and feed a breaking pass to Noah Baird who flew down to Oakvilles end and scored a beauty to end the OT and win the semi final. This was intense and the crowd went crazy and I was later told lots of tears in the eyes of Cayuga moms to see their boys win.

MVP went to of course Noah Baird for his O.T goal, a special recognition goes to Carmine Marchese for keeping us in the game and making some incredible stops.

Game 4- Gold Medal- Cayuga (1^st) vs St.John’s (Peterborough) (2^nd)

As expected this was going to be good game and the both teams held up to that. The 1^st period saw end to end battles with the goalies coming up big on each and every attempt. Both teams played hard and some beauty passing and play making on both sides. The temple was quick no one letting up, it was great hockey. Most of the second period was the same but with 3 minutes to go St John’s managed to get on the score board first. Cayuga found themselves fighting up hill once again for the remainder of the period and into the 3^rd. Finally at 1:56 left in the 3^rd Cayuga Coach calls for a time-out and has a few words with his boys and goes over the next play. Well it paid off as Cayuga went to pull their goalie for the extra attacker James Tattersal, Noah Lymburner and Ben Polawski pulled everything out they had and made one final rush and play which saw Ben Polawski finally get one pass the St Johns goal keep to tie up the game and send it to OT again!!

Again the same set up for OT however the story would not be the same as St John’s managed to get a break down the side and fired a rising shot that beat our goalie top corner and ended the game.

Da Boy’s played the best hockey of the season today and in this game, Carmine Marchese received MVP for his outstanding goaltending. We lost gold to a good team but came away with the Silver Medal and best tournament record.

The Coaching staffs of Da Boys are very proud of you, what an awesome group.