Nov 13, 2023 | Don Shantz | 855 views
U16 AA Wins 1st Annual Veterans Memorial Tournament
Our Niagara Falls Flyers U16 AA team participated in the 1st Annual Veterans Memorial Tournament hosted by the Glancaster Bombers over the days of November 9-12, 2023 with 6 teams in the division.
The tournament started on Friday with a disappointing Day 1, as our U16 AA Club lost it's opening games to the Buffalo Red Raiders and the Whitby Wildcats.
The team returned for Day 2 looking to be better and it started first with a hard fought 2-2 tie against the West Niagara Flying Aces. Both Niagara Falls goals were scored by Will Fyfe and Connor Garrett played a strong game in goal to preserve the tie. The evening game was a matchup against the Host Team Glancaster Bombers and on the strength of goals scored by Mason Neal, William Laur and Tucker Paone. Niagara Falls won 3-0 with a shutout earned by Cameron Labelle.
Day 3 started with an early morning game against the Stoney Creek Warriors. Niagara Falls opened the scoring late in the 1st Period on a goal scored by Taylor McQuillan assisted by Justin Jean-Joseph. Stoney Creek countered with 2 goals early in the second and with 28 seconds left in the period, McQuillan scored again assisted by Will Fyfe to even the game at 2-2. Niagara Falls then scored 2 more goals in the 3rd period to make it 4-2 by Fyfe and McQuillan (3rd of the Game) assisted by William Laur but Stoney Creek came back and tied it late in the 3rd period to send the game to Overtime. The 1st Overtime period was played 3 on 3, which saw many chances at both ends of the ice and after no change in scoring the teams started a 2nd Overtime once again playing 3 on 3. Will Fyfe scored with 7 seconds remaining and give the Flyers a 5-4 Overtime Victory!
This set up a U16 AA Finals re-match against the Whitby Wildcats who went undefeated in the tournament. The game started with Niagara Falls scoring 5 minutes into the first period on a goal by Will Fyfe assisted by Lucas Dilibero. Parker Dolan then scored on a Powerplay (assisted by Fyfe) early in the second which then was followed by another goal 3 minutes later by Taylor McQuillan assisted by Dilibero and William Laur. With only 90 seconds left in the 2nd period Fyfe scored again to give the Flyers a 4-0 lead going into the 3rd period. Whitby pressed for most of the 3rd with shot after shot turned away by Cameron Labelle until they finally broke through and scored with only 59 seconds left in the game to break the shutout performance making the Final score 4-1!!
Congratulations to all of the U16 AA Players who worked hard throughout the weekend to earn this tournament win!! A Special Thank-you as well to all parents and family who also made it to our games to support our team throughout the weekend!!
GO FLYERS!!