Majors Reach the Finals of the Barrow Tournament
by Mike Annese
The St. Michael's Majors took part in the 14th annual Barrow tournament hosted by Upper Canada College this past weekend. It was an exciting weekend for the team facing some energetic and talented teams from Cleveland, Ontario and Quebec. The Majors started the weekend against UCC in the opening game of the tournament. St. Michael's struck first as Marc Smorenburg and Justin Romeo connected to take an early 1 to 0 lead. The first period ended 1-1. The Majors came out and played a great second period controlling the play with many good scoring chances but UCC managed to score a goal with less than a minute left in the second period. The Majors came out hard again in the third. It was another tight period and with 7 minutes left in the period the score was 2 to 1 for UCC. It looked as if the Majors were about to capitalize as UCC took a 5 minute major penalty. St. Mike's power play had a few attempts on net, but on a quick UCC transition the play shifted and UCC managed to get one past Mark Nesbitt. With three minutes left in the penalty the Major's decided to pull the goalie and try to narrow the score. UCC was under a lot of pressure but in the final minute of the game they managed to score an empty net goal. The final score was 4 to 1. St. Michael's played a close game that was not decided until late in the third.
The Majors next opponent was St. Ignatius from Cleveland - a very quick and energetic team. St. Ignatius pounced on early opportunities and by the end of the first the Majors were down 2 to 0. The second period saw the Majors lose another player to injury. This had happened quite a few time this season as a young St. Michael's team faced older, post grad players. The Majors needed to mount a comeback or face elimination from the tournament. Luke Fitzgerald, one of the leading scoring forwards, dropped back to play defence and helped on the blue line the rest of the tournament. The team went into the dressing room for the flood having been short rostered 5 players but went on to have one of their best periods of hockey this season . The always steady defenseman Justin Hoefenmayer got the team started with a great shot, dropping in off the point. Things were about to shift and the team quickly rallied around one another. The defensive pairing of Hoefenmayer and Colin Jang drove the comeback with great stretch passes and jumping up on the rush. Not two minutes later Hoefenmayer got the puck to Smorenburg who burried it tying the game at 2. The rest of the third was a back and for grind as the Majors wore down the opposition. As the game headed into overtime St. Michael's had new found confidence. In the 5 minute O.T. Adam Ban directed a shot towards the net and Smorenburg scored the overtime winner.
College De Levis was next that evening. The Majors were coming off a big win and did not let up as Mark Nesbitt played another great game which could have been a lot closer. Luke Geiger got the team started early with his first of the tournament assisted by Colin Jang who's great heads up passes continued to create scoring opportunities. Cam Dempsey scored again assisted by Jang, in the second period which ended with the Majors up 2 to 1. In the third the team did not let up and they scored two more times on goals from Justin Romeo and another from Luke Geiger to make the score 4 to 2. Marc Smorenburg added an empty net goal for a final score of 5 to 2. This game was a big team effort, a solid game all around. Luke Fitzgerald and Christian Melatti moved the puck quickly and kept the front of the net clear. Robbie Coote and Adam Ban moved the puck across the blue line well and were rewarded with assists. As always goalie Christian Marsilla was engaged, encouraging Nesbitt and the team to perform at their best. Marcus Geiger and Justin Kichuk both grade ten students that were APs for the tournament were an integral part of the weekend as well.
The Majors finished with a record of 2 and 1 which placed them in second place in the Mara division and pitted them against Ulysse who had gone 3 and 0, first in the Eaton division. In the semi-final game against Ulysse it was Justin Romeo who had a nack for finding the mesh against the highly ranked Quebec based team. Romeo opened the scoring in the first period, in what was to be an extremely close game until the third. Mark Nesbitt would be tested numerous times throughout the game as the team earned a shut-out. The two way play of Andrew da Siliva, Jacob Orrico, Justin Saab-Breault and Brandon Raftis wore down the opposition and allowed the Majors to explode in the third with four unanswered goals. Romeo scored the second go ahead goal half way through the third period. Smorenburg was not far behind giving him 5 goals for the weekend. Romeo completed the hat trick in fine fashion with a quick wrap around. Luke Geiger closed the game out with his third of the tournament and the final score was 5 to 0. The Majors had made it to the finals of the 14th Annual Barrow Tournament.
St. Michael's and UCC met once again in the championship final. The game was well attended as the long-time rivals took the ice. In the first minute UCC drove the net and managed to jam one past Mark Nesbitt. St. Michael's did not quit and had scoring opportunities off the rush but were not able to close the gap. The first period ended 2 to 0. The team came together this weekend and despite numerous injuries the young St. Michael's team continued to compete. The Majors ended up falling short and the final score of the game was 4 to 0 for UCC. It was an enjoyable action packed weekend. Helpers went to Ban, Dempsey and Melatti with 3, Coote, Jang, Raftis and Romeo with 2, while L. Geiger, Hoefenmayer and Smorenburg all had singles. The Majors now prepare for the National tournament which will be held on March 8th to 12th. Thanks to the many parents of past Majors players that came out to support the team.
