Fresh off their Boo in the Soo Championship win the U14 Soo Junior Greyhounds AA headed to Detroit to play in the CCM Motown Tournament against 20 triple AAA and AA teams from the USA and Canada over the Friday, October 24th to Sunday, October 22nd weekend.
The Soo drew AAA Wilkes Barre Scranton in their first game of the round robin. WBS opened the scoring at 1:57 of the first to go ahead 1-0. The Saults Goaltender Levi Inch then proceeded to make highlight reel save after highlight reel save until the Greyhounds found their footing. At 9:09 of the third Eli Chapman stretched a pass to Adam Provenzano who undressed his defender creating a two on one. Provenzano fed a nifty pass to Reegan Dezordo who buried the equalizer. Then with 1:44 remaining Provenzano fed Ashton Neufeld who found Chapman in open space and he sniped the go ahead goal. They didn’t know it at the time but that goal would become critical in them advancing to the group of eight.
The Soo would then drop a close one to the Tri-Valley Bulls 3-2. In their last game of the round robin the Sault needed at least four goals to advance and they put up ten on the Ohio Blue Jackets AA.
The Greyhounds drew the Sylvania North Stars AAA in the quarterfinals. Sylvania opened the scoring a minute and a half into the first period. Then Goaltender Noah Jylha took over and stood on his head until the sault could get things going. 31 seconds left in the first Eli Chapman tied the game. With three minutes left in the third Mateo Muto found Reegan Dezordo whos one tap pass to Provenzano for the one timer produced the game winner. Chapman would force a strip and empty netter with one min remaining. With a min remaining the Greyhounds line of Carter Gioa, Milan Glavota, Gavin Ciotti and defenceman Preston Gioa and Nicholas Patience were tasked with fending off a Sylvania onslaught. They fought hard to secure the win.
In the semi-final the Greyhounds drew the Waterloo Wolves AAA with Waterloo was widely regarded as the odds on favourite to win the tourney. The Sault would answer first with a back post feed from Chapman to Neufeld. Waterloo would then battle back and score 2 in the second to take the lead. With 1:40 left to go in the game and the draw in Waterloo territory the Greyhounds called a timeout and added the extra attacker. Reegan Dezordo won the draw back to Mateo Muto who sent the puck to Ashton Neufeld who delivered a pass to Chapman on the lower circle. Chapman made a nifty move to avoid a defender and sniped the equalizer sending the Greyhounds to overtime. With one min remaining in double overtime Waterloo was assessed a penalty sending the greyhounds on a four on three power play. Dezordo fed a cross ice pass to Chapman whose shot found the back of the net. The Greyhounds were headed to the final for a rematch with its divisional opponent Wilkes Barre Scranton.
The Soo gave up three first period goals to WBS and then battled back. They scored in the second to make it 3-1. They missed three empty nets and then WBS added an empty netter to secure the win making the final score 4-1.
Soo U14 head coach Lucas Provenzano told Saultsports that “we had expended so much energy in that semi final that we started out a little flat in the first and it cost us. I thought we outplayed them in the second and third. Just didn’t capitalize. I have won and lost alot of championships in the past and honestly I savour them all but this one ranks among the best experiences I have been a part of. One all of us will remember for a very long time. We are a brand new team in the sense that most of these players have not played together before or been coached by us. I thought Anthony Dezordo and John Glavota did an unbelievable job this weekend putting our players in great situations to succeed. We have tried to put together a robust program. Jamie Disano works with our goalies. We have added Mike Barbeau for strength and conditioning. We have a great trainer in Donny Muto. Our other coaches Brad Notte, Chris Miller and Mike Ciotti have worked hard to get these players ready to compete. We probably have one of the best managers on the planet in Bob Chapman. It’s just nice to see the gains from everyone’s contributions.
“We happen to have two unbelievable Goalies in Levi Inch and Noah Jylha who undoubtedly have bright futures in hockey. They have allowed us to work through our growing pains. When we have our breakdowns they bail us out. When you look at the scoresheet this weekend you see the same names and they were no doubt critical to our success. Equally as important was the contributions of others. I thought the line of Bailey Fitzpatrick, Nolan Lesperance and David Francella were fantastic this weekend. They generated a ton of chances and were instrumental in key situations. Gavin Ciotti, Carter Gioia and Milan Glavota might not be the tallest players on the ice but they play like they are 6 ft tall. We have a solid defensive core as well. I thought Gavin Greenwood, Martino Coccimiglio, Preston Gioa and Nick Patience really stepped their games up to handle that level of competition and really stepped up in critical situations,” added Provenzano.
Lucas mentioned that “we preach that we have to be a team that bends but doesn’t break. We have to win in the locker room first. These players embodied those principles this weekend. It’s a family atmosphere in the locker room and on the bench. We definitely aren’t where we want to be as a team yet but it definitely appears we are heading in the right direction. You can’t accomplish what we did this weekend as a team without everyone buying in. I mean truthfully nobody thought we would even make it to the quarters let alone the championship game. Now we can savor a good memory but it’s time to keep focus and get back to work. To say we are proud of this group is an understatement but we have to keep putting the work in to get where we want to be.”
The Soo U14 Greyounds next big test will be Silver Sticks Regianal in Sudbury. The 2010 U14 Jr Greyhounds AA are currently ranked sixth in Ontario and will face the number two ranked Scarborough Bruins in game one.
