Huron Expositor, 2007-04-18, Page 14Page 14 April 18, 2007 • The Huron Expositor
Seaforth peewee girls
earn provincial bronze
in fifth overtime period
Susan H u n d e r t m a r k
Scoring in the fifth overtime
period in a game that ended up
being twice the usual length, the
Seaforth girls' peewee B hockey
team won bronze in the provin-
cials over the weekend.
"The determination those girls
showed was unbelieveable. They
were physically exhausted but
they kept going," said coach Dave
Murray on Monday.
Seaforth won its first three
games in round robin play - beat-
ing Sault Ste. Marie 3-0, West
Northumberland 2-0 and
Clearview 3-1 to earn a spot in the
finals.
Seaforth then beat Georgina 4-1
in the quarter finals, with three
goals scored by Heather Heard
and one by Maddie Melady.
In the semi-finals, Seaforth lost
to North Bay 2-1 in double over-
time. Heather Heard scored the
goal.
"We were one bounce away from
the gold .medal game," said
Murray of the overtime goal by
North Bay.
Then, Seaforth had to regroup
and prepare for the bronze medal
game against West
Northumberland which went
scoreless for the first three periods
of regular play.
The evenly -matched teams bat-
tled for five overtime 10 -minute
periods before Heather Heard
finally backhanded the puck into
the net for Seaforth.
"After the third overtime, they
flooded the ice and the girls had a
break, which seemed to help our
team more than theirs," said
Murray.
"It was too bad there was a loser
because both teams deserved a
medal," he said.
With two lines of one goalie and
10 other players, Seaforth had one
of the smallest teams at the
provincials but Murray said the
girls were so well conditioned that
the lack of a third line did not
hurt them in the competition.
"The other team was just as
exhausted as we were with their
third line," he said, adding that
the season was timed well to keep
the girls in top condition.
He also attributed the decision
by Seaforth Minor Hockey to field
two peewee girls' teams in the B
and C levels as a reason for the
girls' endurance.
"Every girl on both teams was
able to get as much ice time as
possible with two teams and that
really helped," he said.
Murray said Seaforth's peewee
B team was also unusual in the
fact that it only had three second -
year players and eight first-year
players.
"The teams that get to the
provincials usually have mostly
second -year players. Hats off to
our girls," he said.
Member of the Seaforth peewee B girls celebrate on a truck painted with con-
gratulatory messages when they returned home after provincials Sunday.
Andy Bader photo
Hawks players celebrate Dave Verberne's winning goal as Mitchell wins its fourth
junior D league championship in its history over the weekend.
Three Seaforth players
on winning Hawks team
Andy Bader
GEREEEMEMED
No one could have Acripted a bet-
ter ending to the Mitchell Hawks'
40th anniversary season.
The Hawks won a 3-2 overtime
thriller in Delhi Saturday, April 14,
to give the club their fourth junior D
league championship in their histo-
ry, four games to two over the Delhi
Travellers.
The Southern Ontario Junior
Hockey League (SOJHL) ushered
its first-ever champ, the Hawks,
after the Ontario Hockey
Association (OHA) changed their
name at the start of this 2006-07
season.
Mitchell knew they had a con-
tender for the league title, but no
one expected how methodically they
would soar in the playoffs, posting
an incredible 16-4 record en route to
the championship.
Fittingly, the final series was the
toughest, as the Travellers - final-
ists from a year ago - used their
experience to rally from a 2-0 series
deficit to force Game 6 on their
home ice Saturday, after claiming a
thriller of their own, 3-2 in double -
overtime last Friday sending more
than 1,300 Mitchell fans home
unhappy.
But there would be no disappoint-
ment in Delhi for the hundreds of
Mitchell -area fans who made the
90 -minute drive to tobacco country.
Trailing Game 6 2-1 after two
periods, and staring a do-or-die
Game 7 in the face in their home
rink Sunday, Mitchell dug deep and
scored the next two goals, once mid-
way through the third when Dan
Raycraft ended a series slump with
a powerplay marker to force over-
time, then Dave Verberne scoring
the winner 61 -seconds into the first
overtime period to send the team
into pandemonium.
"They coughed it up and I just
shot it, I think it went five -hole," a
delirious Verberne said in the win-
ning dressing room afterwards. "I
don't really remember - it's all a
blur."
Dave Verberne, of Seaforth, has
two other Seaforth teammates on
the Hawks - Tyler Elligsen and
Steve Henderson - all of whom have
been with the Hawks for the past
three years, and all played minor
hockey in Seaforth.
It was cousin Kyle Verberne, who
again played a role in the winner, as
the overage captain, who curled and
jumped in front of Delhi goalie Mike
See HAWKS, Page 16