Horton Griffins Boys Hockey Team takes their run to the max!
This past weekend, the Horton Boys hockey team participated in the annual CK Gators Classic hockey tournament. This year there was 12 teams that entered the contest in an effort to come out on top as the champions of the 12 team scramble.
The team started their run on Friday morning at 9AM that saw them meet up with the Forest Heights Falcons for game one. This was an intense competition between both teams that were meeting for the first time in the 22-23 season. It was a spirited affair with some great hockey played by both teams. The first period saw each team score a pair of goals in the first period and running through the second period with no goals. The third brought a flurry of activity with goals scored by both teams in quick succession. Horton scored at 13:30 with FH coming back to score at 13:07 to even the score. Horton again took the lead 7 seconds later to lead 4-3. FH stormed back and scored less then a minute later to even the score at 4’s. Forest Heights scored again at 12:08 to take the lead at 5-4. They held that lead until 5:31 when Horton evened the score once again. The Griffins went ahead at 1:22 of the third period with a goal by Garret Gaulton who scored three goals in the win over Forest Heights. Oliver Bezanson saw 31 shots on net vs. the Forest Heights goalie facing 37.
The second game at 9PM on Friday evening saw the Griffins taking on the Hants West Tigers. This was a good back and forth battle as well. The game was a low scoring affair, with the Horton Griffins playing a little less disciplined game with a total of 8 penalties being levied against them with a grand total of 24 mins to be served. This was in contrast to the Tigers with a total of 5 penalties and 12 mins in penalty time. The score was kept to a total of 5 goals between both teams with Horton getting the game winner at 6:01 of the 3rd period. The last couple minutes of the game was a complete scramble, but Ryan Young was able to stand on his head and prevent the puck from crossing the line to protect that lead that saw the Griffs get another W for the score sheet. Ryan Young faced 19 shots vs the Tigers goalie seeing 24.
The third game of the round robin was between the Griffins and the Island View Devils. Fortunately, the Griffs played well and was able to see the team share the scoring around with the highlight seeing the Captain CK Zinck get a hat trick with 3 goals through the game. Unfortunately the Devils played a bit of an undisciplined team event that saw a total of 52 mins in penalties handed out that included 3 game misconducts. The game ended with Horton realizing a 6-1 win. This solidified the Griffins place in the Semi-Final game the next day against the Northumberland Nighthawks who had just recently won the Avonview Tournament.
The Griffins faced off against the Nighthawks at 10:30AM on Sunday morning. The team knew they would face a good challenge in this tilt with the Northumberland team to make into the finals that afternoon. The game was a very back and forth session with only a few penalties handed out to each team and some very good hockey played by all players. Unfortunately, the Horton Griffins lost their starting goalie Ryan Young who took a very hard shot to the forehead that caused him to be removed from the net. Ryan was having a stellar game when he was hurt, but Oliver Bezanson came in and took over right where Ryan left off. The one goal that Northumberland was able to net was the one that was scored by CK Zinck on his own net shortly after the goaltender change. CJ was devastated by this error that saw the game tied after the Griffins were leading for the first period and a half. However, the teammates were able to surround their captain, know it was just an error in time and they battled back for their teammate and score the game winner with 28 seconds left in the second period. We are sure that CJ will be razzed about that one for the rest of the hockey season! The Griffs were heading to the gold medal game! Ryan Young and Oliver Bezanson shared the stopping of 35 shots on net vs. the 18 the NightHawks goalie faced.
The championship game took place at 2:30PM on Sunday afternoon with the Horton Griffins facing the Millwood Knights. It was a short turnaround for the Griffins after their hard fought semi final game. It was a good game of hockey that saw the Knights score three goals throughout the first, second and third periods. The Horton team just did not have the extra gas in the tank to combat the speed of the knights throughout the game. However, the SOG were very close with Oliver Bezanson seeing 21 shots and the Knights netminder seeing 18. The Griffins went down in defeat in a 3-0 game and took home the silver medal which is a huge accomplishment to come into a 12 team tournament and place second of those teams.
Congrats to the Horton Griffins team on a very well played weekend of Hockey!
