Was
is Groundhog Day?
October’s Jack Tolhurst Memorial Tournament in St. George found the South Kent Lightning (Taco Bell) Bantam squad facing Hagersville Hawks in the semi final round, only to lose in overtime. Ditto this past weekend at the Art Coombs Memorial Tournament in Paris. Again making it to the semi finals, again facing Hagersville Hawks, and once again narrowly missing out on going to the finals.
In the first game of the tournament, the Lightning played Blyth Brussels to win 1-0 with James Larsh earning a shutout. With less than a minute left in the second period Cory Beecroft scored the winning goal with assistance from Cam Wellington. The second game ended in a 3-3 tie with Tavistock Titans, as goalie Daniel Rodger made some great saves to keep them at bay. Braydon Segeren opened the scoring with an unassisted goal in the first period. Tavistock came back to take the lead but Beecroft scored to tie it up, with help from Kolby Caughy and James Mifflin. In the third, Caughy scored a go-ahead goal, assisted by Aiden Rigby and Beecroft. Not to be outdone, Tavistock tied it up with only a minute and half left in an intense game.
Onto game #3 to face host team, Paris Wolf Pack. Opening the first period with his first goal of the season, and as a rep player, was Carter (Taco) Gates, assisted by Brett Davidson and Quinn Pickering. Gates’ goal was followed up by 3 more courtesy of Mac Anderson with 2 and Cam Wellington. Assists go to James Mifflin, Caughy for 3, and Beecroft. Robbing Larsh of another shutout, Paris scored with only 19 seconds left in the third period. South Kent move on to the semi finals.
In the semi finals, the Lightning were up against the Hagersville Hawks again. Hagersville opened scoring in the first, followed quickly by a goal from Caughy, then another Hawks goal to round out the first period. Second period saw only 1 goal from the Hawks and then another in the third. With 2:28 left in the third, Davidson scored with Wellington’s help. South Kent gave it a valiant effort, but it wasn’t quite enough as Hagersville move on to the Finals.
This coming week, the Bantam Reps have 2 games – Friday at 7:10 in the Ridgetown barn against Petrolia Oilers and Sunday at 4:10 in the West Lorne arena.