The Reminder is making its archives back to 2003 available on our website. Please note that, due to technical limitations, archive articles are presented without the usual formatting.
Dillan McCombie of the Sabres says the Pee Wee 3-on-3 final between his team and the Steelworkers "was a lot more intense." He may have been right as the Doe Doe's Pee Wee tournament finale on Saturday ended 8-7 in favour of the Steelworkers in front a vocal crowd at the Whitney Forum. "It was exactly what I was hoping for," says Todd Quinn, tournament organizer and referee. "Intensity was there and it was close. It was fun." The offense was late in coming with the score 1-1 in the first 15 minutes of the 45-minute game. Tight checking with clutch goaltending was there for both sides. The turning point came when Quinn awarded the Sabres two consecutive penalty shots that had the crowd of parents voicing displeasure. "One kid got a penalty, then he slapped the puck," explains Quinn, who gave the extra penalty shot for the player being unsportsmanlike. The fans roared at Quinn on that call. Later, the Sabres goalie would punch his opponent in the head with his glove hand. "You cannot lose control,"Quinn says. Once the two goals were scored, Brennan Quinn of the Sabres felt positive his team had a win. "We had a good chance with those penalty shots. We played very good, but we also played a little sloppy," says Brennan. Another questionable call came when the Steelworkers scored on a play in which the puck appeared to hit both posts and remain out. Nathan Johnson, who plays for the Petro-Can team, believed the puck went in. "It was in because it hit the post," he explains as he watched from the stands, "then hit the post on the inside so it was over the line." Nathan enjoyed the game but is looking forward to returning to 5-on-5 because he says you can hit more people and it's not as tough. "It was pretty good, it was pretty intense," says Nathan of the final game. "I was kind of nervous because my friend was on the Steelworkers and I thought they were going to lose when they were losing." His sentiments appeared to be true as the Sabres were awarded the penalty shots with less than six minutes remaining. The game was tight throughout, but the Steelworkers continued to work and were able to score the winning goal with less than three minutes remaining. "The kids had heart and soul," says Quinn. "The kids learned how to move the puck and the goaltending was good both ways." "It feels pretty good, it was hard work and we all worked hard and we were moving the puck around good and we're pretty happy about it," says Trevor Fox, a Steelworkers player following the game. The Sabres may have had some luck on their side with capitalizing on both penalty shots, as goalie Jeff Stallard also played in the previous game for Petro-Can. He said it was pretty tough to play in the second game but liked how his team played. The only thing that matters to him was winning, as he says it felt "good, really good." Once the game was done, most were satisfied with the results, especially Rylan Veitch, who watched from the stands of the Whitney Forum. His Blues team lost before the final. "It was interesting and it had lots of action," Rylan says.
