Dallas Junior Hockey Association

The key to tournament advancement is sticking to a game plan, making adjustments when needed, capitalizing on opportunities...and riding a red-hot goaltender doesn’t hurt either!  The combination of goaltending from Kevin Graves, suffocating defense, strong special teams play, and timely goals proved to be the perfect formula for championship success at the Atom Minor A Newmarket, ON Silver Sticks Tournament held on 1/17/08.

The defense parings of Niko Ala-Kokko & Matt O’Brien and Mason Moon& Jake Sobieski played outstanding in front of Graves, consistently forcing attacking opponents to the outside and clearing traffic and rebounds in front of the net.  The entire Penguin team committed to playing a shut-down defensive game, limiting their opponents to just 16 shots per game, and left them needing the perfect shot to score on the near perfect Graves, who posted two shutouts in 5 matches.

The Penguins also rode the hot forward line combo of Cole Watson, Nick Mueller, and Joseph Crump, who combined for 14 total points in the tournament, and could be counted on to provide goals at crucial moments.  However, it is without doubt, that there was never a more crucial moment for a goal then Boone Hoenshell ‘s,  semi –final game, sudden death,  short-hander  off a perfect pass from Nick Griebenow  that advanced the Penguins to the championship game against The Kanata White Blazers

Starting out on Friday morning vs. the New London Knights, the two teams played a tight defensive game, but it was the Penguins Johnny Sadowski who scored the game’s only goal when he pounced on a loose rebound in the slot and fired it in to the back of the net late in the 1^st period.  For the rest of the game it was team defense and Graves “standing on his head” that led to the win.

Friday afternoon’s game against the favoured Belleville Bulls was equally tight, with the Penguins holding on to Cole Watson’s 1^st period goal until the middle of the 3^rd period, when Belleville tied it up off a deflection in front of the net.  The tie put the Penguins in the position of needing goal production against their next opponent, New Market on Saturday morning.

Facing  New Market, the Penguins rose to the occasion posting a 5-1 win on goals from Crump(2), Tommy Evanyk, Mueller, and Watson; which provided the all too important percentage point advantage going into the Semi-Final game as the top seed.

Against Orillia, the Penguins found themselves in unfamiliar territory, falling behind 1-0 on a power play goal early in the 1^st period, but managed to tie it up on a 2^nd period wrap around courtesy of Joseph Crump. The Penguins and Terriers slugged it out for the remainder of regulation, with the game almost ending on a tremendous effort by Evanyk, who back-checked to break up a 2 on 1 opportunity and then took a feed from Griebenow for a breakaway with 6 seconds left, only to be denied by a great save at the other end.  All this led up to the dramatic goal by Hoenshell , who fired a 25 footer past the Terrier net minder in double overtime which resulted in a pile of Penguins on top of little “Booneicus” at center ice!

As with all Championship games, there’s delight with your team getting that far, but there’s also the stress of knowing someone has to end up with second place. After a few “feeling out” shifts, the Penguins struck first off a top corner wrist shot by Colin Brignola, with assists from Griebenow and Hoenshell.  The Penguins carried the lead through the first period, again relying on Graves to backstop them out of danger.  The Penguins Struck again in the 2^nd period on a hard working goal by Watson, with assists from Crump and Mueller.  Now it was outstanding defense and the White Blazers having to press to get 3 goals on the best goalie in the tournament in order to win, that resulted in Kanata taking costly penalties.  With 5 minutes left in the 3^rd, Mathew O’Brien took a pass from Garrett Heinz and went end to end finishing off with a nifty back hand goal to the glove side.

With less than 5 minutes left, a 3 goal lead, and a red-hot goaltender, you might be inclined to let up...but the Penguins went all out to insure Graves ended the tournament the same way he started it, with a shut out! Whether it’s the stainless steel refrigerator, the walls, or computer monitors, we always have to wipe up their fingerprints, but we had no problem with those same fingerprints all over that shiny Silver Stick.  Dallas Penguins: 3 Kanata White Blazers: 0.