Email
Print
Pictou County Bantam AA Selects Win Bronze at Provincials
2014-03-09
The Pictou County female Bantam AA Subway Selects hosted the 2014 Provincials Championships over the weekend and came away with a stellar record of two wins, a tie and a loss. God enough for a bronze medal performance in a tightly contested weekend of fabulous female hockey at the Hector ...
The Pictou County female Bantam AA Subway Selects hosted the 2014 Provincials Championships over the weekend and came away with a stellar record of two wins, a tie and a loss. God enough for a bronze medal performance in a tightly contested weekend of fabulous female hockey at the Hector Arena in Pictou. The Selects began their weekend with a hard fought 2-1 victory over the Cole Harbour Wings on Friday morning. Kassidy MacKinnon opened the scoring at 9:25 of the second period to give the Selects a 1-0 lead. With two minutes remaining in the second, Patti Anne Tracey gave the hosts a 2-0 lead. The Wings narrowed the gap with a goal late in the final period but the Selects hung on for the win. Jenna Landry was stellar in goal and earned Player of the game honors. The Subways got right back to business just after the opening ceremonies against the TASA Ducks. After two scoreless periods, the Ducks got on the board first with 9:59 to play in the game. Just a little over two minutes later, Heath Miller, with her first goal of the season, blasted a point shot through traffic to even things up. The goal gave the Selects a big lift and they carried the play through the latter part of the third. With just 58 seconds remaining in the game, Camryn Halliday ripped a rebound to the top corner to give the Selects the lead and what looked like their second win of the day. The Selects looked to have things well in hand until they were called for an intentional offside as the clock slowly ticked down. With just 20.9 seconds remaining, the face off deep in the Subway end, and the TASA net empty, fate dealt a tough blow to the Selects. With less than a second remaining, a TASA point shot found it's way through a crowd and crossed the line to knot it at two. A five minute overtime solved nothing and each team were awarded a point in the 2-2 tie. Halliday was named player of the game for Pictou County.
On Saturday the Selects picked up where they left off on Friday, taking on the Valley Wild. The Selects opened the scoring at 6:33 of the second period on a nifty backhand by Pati Ann Tracey. Brooke Morris gave the Subways a two goal cushion when she scored on a rebound for a 2-0 lead. Thirty seconds later, the wild responded to cut the lead to 2-1. The Selects managed to hang on until there were just 23 seconds remaining when Heath Miller iced it with an empty net goal to give the Pictou County squad a 3-1 win. Patti Ann Tracey was named player of the game. The victory put them in first place in the standings with five points and a good shot at the final on Sunday. The Selects could put themselves into the gold medal game with a win over Halifax in the afternoon. As the puck dropped in their fourth and final round robin game, it was evident the long weekend was beginning to take it's toll on the Selects, as they didn't appear to have the same jump they had displayed over the course of the first three games. Halifax was dominating, leaving Subway net minder Jenna Landry to hold them in the game. Halifax finally scored midway through the first but the Selects hung on. They continued to battle and created several great chances of their own but were unable to score. Pictou County then found themselves in penalty trouble, taking three straight minors in the third period. It finally caught up with them when the Hawks got a power play marker with 7:58 to play in the game. The Subways would succumb to the 2-0 loss. Jenna Landry was once again a standout between the Pictou County pipes and was awarded player of the game for the second time in the tourney. The hopes of the Selects were still alive, however, their fate was now in the hands of the Valley team who needed to take a least a point from TASA in the next round robin game. That would put the Pictou County girls in and TASA out. It was not to be, however, as the Ducks pounded the Valley by a score of 5-0.
Halifax and TASA ended the round robin tied with six points a piece. The five points earned by the Selects wasn't quite enough to get them to the gold medal game but was enough for a bronze medal performance. TASA went on to defeat Halifax in the final by a score of 2-0 to win the Championship in an exciting, well played final.
Three Pictou County girls were named as major award winners in the Tournament. Josie Chisholm and Patti-Ann Tracey were named to the All Star team while net minder Jenna Landry was named top goaltender in the tournament.
After the tourney Coach Steve Halliday talked about his teams performance. "I couldn't be more proud of how well our girls played. They really gave everything they had and played their best hockey of the season this weekend. Frankly, the league was so close this year, any one of these teams could have won this tournament. We had a great record and a great performance. It was a real privilege to have worked with such a great group of talented, fun loving athletes. In the end, it really isn't about the color of the medal, it's really about the opportunity for the girls to compete at the highest level and enjoy doing it as a team of best friends"
The Selects will complete their season with two more league playoff games before hanging up the skates for the summer.
On Saturday the Selects picked up where they left off on Friday, taking on the Valley Wild. The Selects opened the scoring at 6:33 of the second period on a nifty backhand by Pati Ann Tracey. Brooke Morris gave the Subways a two goal cushion when she scored on a rebound for a 2-0 lead. Thirty seconds later, the wild responded to cut the lead to 2-1. The Selects managed to hang on until there were just 23 seconds remaining when Heath Miller iced it with an empty net goal to give the Pictou County squad a 3-1 win. Patti Ann Tracey was named player of the game. The victory put them in first place in the standings with five points and a good shot at the final on Sunday. The Selects could put themselves into the gold medal game with a win over Halifax in the afternoon. As the puck dropped in their fourth and final round robin game, it was evident the long weekend was beginning to take it's toll on the Selects, as they didn't appear to have the same jump they had displayed over the course of the first three games. Halifax was dominating, leaving Subway net minder Jenna Landry to hold them in the game. Halifax finally scored midway through the first but the Selects hung on. They continued to battle and created several great chances of their own but were unable to score. Pictou County then found themselves in penalty trouble, taking three straight minors in the third period. It finally caught up with them when the Hawks got a power play marker with 7:58 to play in the game. The Subways would succumb to the 2-0 loss. Jenna Landry was once again a standout between the Pictou County pipes and was awarded player of the game for the second time in the tourney. The hopes of the Selects were still alive, however, their fate was now in the hands of the Valley team who needed to take a least a point from TASA in the next round robin game. That would put the Pictou County girls in and TASA out. It was not to be, however, as the Ducks pounded the Valley by a score of 5-0.
Halifax and TASA ended the round robin tied with six points a piece. The five points earned by the Selects wasn't quite enough to get them to the gold medal game but was enough for a bronze medal performance. TASA went on to defeat Halifax in the final by a score of 2-0 to win the Championship in an exciting, well played final.
Three Pictou County girls were named as major award winners in the Tournament. Josie Chisholm and Patti-Ann Tracey were named to the All Star team while net minder Jenna Landry was named top goaltender in the tournament.
After the tourney Coach Steve Halliday talked about his teams performance. "I couldn't be more proud of how well our girls played. They really gave everything they had and played their best hockey of the season this weekend. Frankly, the league was so close this year, any one of these teams could have won this tournament. We had a great record and a great performance. It was a real privilege to have worked with such a great group of talented, fun loving athletes. In the end, it really isn't about the color of the medal, it's really about the opportunity for the girls to compete at the highest level and enjoy doing it as a team of best friends"
The Selects will complete their season with two more league playoff games before hanging up the skates for the summer.