{"id":41546,"date":"2017-12-16T06:14:59","date_gmt":"2017-12-16T11:14:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/huntsville.dopperonline.ca\/?p=41546"},"modified":"2017-12-15T08:20:23","modified_gmt":"2017-12-15T13:20:23","slug":"the-otters-aquadome-novice-rep-team-win-the-duke-knox-cup-in-overtime","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/doppleronline.ca\/huntsville\/the-otters-aquadome-novice-rep-team-win-the-duke-knox-cup-in-overtime\/","title":{"rendered":"The Otters Aquadome Novice Rep team win the Duke Knox cup in overtime"},"content":{"rendered":"

During the December 8-10 weekend, ten hockey teams from across the province arrived in Huntsville to participate in the 2017 Duke Knox Novice Rep Tournament, an annual contest for some of the best seven and eight-year-old hockey players in the region.<\/span><\/p>\n

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The Huntsville Otters Aquadome novice rep team met the Newmarket Redmen in the opening game and came away with a 7-0 victory. On Saturday morning the Otters won 3-2 in a close match with Temiskaming Shores Puckhounds. The Otters 5-1 win over the Simcoe Warriors on Saturday afternoon earned the home team a spot in the final rounds of the tournament on Sunday.<\/span><\/p>\n

Early Sunday morning the Otters took on the Mississippi Thunderkings, winning the semi-final game 5-2. With that victory the Otters headed to the final match against the tough Temiskaming Shores Puckhounds, the team the Otters had narrowly beaten in an earlier game.<\/span><\/p>\n

After a few hours rest between games the Huntsville Otters Aquadome novice rep and Temiskaming Shores Puckhounds took to the ice for the championship game.<\/span><\/p>\n

The game began with great excitement and intensity that kept on growing as it went on. In the first period, the Otters Dylan Bennett, known for his unreal speed and stick-handling, had many thrilling scoring chances. He pounded away at the Puckhounds goalie, who was having a magical game of his own. Temiskaming forwards had great scoring chances too but the Otters defense, Sterling Boothby and Taylor Carnduff, had one of their best games ever and kept breaking up any attacks on their zone. Otters goalie, Braeden Woollings, was rock solid in net so the Puckhounds couldn’t get anything past him either. Each team took minor penalties during the period but the penalty kill was strong so nobody was able to convert. The first period ended scoreless.<\/span><\/p>\n

In the second period the super-charged Bennett continued to fly and pound pucks at the net. It was hard to imagine how Bennett could keep up that stunning pace for the entire game but somehow he did and it paid off with a goal, assisted by Carter Quinlan, coming with four minutes remaining in the second period. The arena and Otters bench erupted with excitement on seeing the Bennett puck in the back of the net.<\/span><\/div>\n
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While the Otters celebrated their goal the Puckhounds coaches gathered their players at the bench and gave quick instructions to keep everyone focused on their jobs. When play resumed it was back to the same end-to-end action, exciting scoring chances, great saves and smart defense. Otters Brady Higgs, Carson Frasier and Logan Sheppard created great offense and kept the Temiskaming goalie on his toes.<\/span><\/p>\n

The level of intensity rose even higher in the third period as the Puckhounds pulled out all the stops in an effort to get the equalizer and the Otters did everything possible to earn an insurance goal. A truly epic battle unfolded.<\/span><\/p>\n

Finally, with only four and a half minutes remaining in the championship game, Temiskaming got their chance on a clear break-away from just inside centre ice. One of the Otters raced back to catch the Puckhounds player, dove for the puck and ended up taking down the Temiskaming forward. The Puckhounds were awarded a penalty shot.<\/span><\/p>\n

Otters goalie, Braeden Woollings, did a great job in such a high-pressure situation. The Puckhounds forward moved in for his penalty shot, tried to fake Woollings out of position but the Otters goalie didn’t take the bait. He held his ground and covered as much net as possible. The Puckhound player wound up and blasted a shot high to the top corner on Woollings’ blocker side. Woollings moved the right way, and was within millimetres of getting a piece of the puck, but the blast made it through. <\/span><\/p>\n

In that moment everyone in the building sensed that this had essentially become a sudden death game and that the championship would be decided by the next goal. The Otters suffered a scary moment late in the game as one of their key players, captain Carson Frasier, went down hard in one of the corners. It was great to see Frasier take the ice again, even though he was still hurting, to show his team and the spectators that the Otters weren’t done yet! That is one tough Otter!<\/span><\/p>\n

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In the dying minutes of the third period Bennett continued to create incredible scoring chances. On one of his rushes he gained the blue line and blasted a shot from the point ringing the puck off the goal post. A moment later Bennett found himself in a similar position, fired a high shot for one of the corners, and this time the Puckhounds goalie jumped up and just got a shoulder on it to deflect the puck wide of the net. During the action a group of older players from another Otters team gathered at the boards and cheered the novice rep team on. Every time Bennett or Frasier took the ice the older Otters pounded on the glass and let out deafening cheers and screams “Bennnnetttt!” “Fraaaaaaaaaasier!” <\/span><\/p>\n

With only one minute to play in the third period the Otters took a minor penalty. They survived the period but with a minute remaining in their penalty the Otters had to start overtime short-handed. In tournament play the teams play 4-on-4 for the first two minutes of overtime. If the score remains tied they will go to 3-on-3 for the next two minutes of overtime and then to 2-on-2. In this situation, since the Otters had a player in the box to start overtime, they had to play 3 on 4. It was a most suspenseful moment as everyone realized the next goal would decide it all, and the Otters could only put three players on the ice for the first minute of that overtime period!<\/span><\/p>\n

To begin overtime the Otters had Brady Higgs, Carson Frasier and Avery Shirtliff on the ice and Braeden Woollings in goal. The ref dropped the puck at centre ice, Shirtliff pounced on the puck and carried it over the Puckhounds blueline. Shirtliff deked a Puckhound player to give himself some room to wind up for a shot. Shirtliff launched a missile from the edge of the face-off circle, from the same position Bennett had also tried many times during the game. Temiskaming’s great goalie was in position, threw out up his glove hand to catch the shot but it whizzed past and buried itself in the back of the net. It was over. At 16 seconds into overtime the Otters won the championship! Players poured from the bench and threw gloves and sticks into the air before piling onto Woollings. It truly was an extraordinary game from start to finish!<\/span><\/p>\n\n\t\t