Pincher Creek Chinooks Atom Tournament Day 1

^ Pincher Creek's Atom 1 Chinooks face off against the Rockyford Roughnecks in the first game of the 2013 Pincher Creek Atom Tournament

C. Davis photos

Chris Davis, Pincher Creek Voice

Pincher Creek's Atom 1 "A" Chinooks and Atom 2 "C" Chinooks hosted a tournament at the Memorial Community Centre arena last weekend.  Four Division A and four Division C teams competed in a total of 16 games starting on Friday evening, January 11 and finishing up with Finals on Sunday afternoon.

Related link: Pincher Creek Chinooks Atom Tournament Part 2

Day 1, Friday, January 11

Game 1 - "C" Division Atom 2 Chinooks vs Rockyford Roughnecks

The tournament began with a barn burner "C" Division game between the Atom 2 Chinooks and the Rockyford Roughnecks.  These two teams were very well matched, resulting in an exciting game to watch.  Rockyford had a good first period, with an unassisted goal from Reagan Melcher putting them ahead 1-0 at the 14:47 mark.

The Chinooks seemed to have the edge offensively for the latter half of the period, but the Roughnecks goalie did a good job of shutting down the Chinooks' scoring attempts.   Roughnecks' Jace Schnuelle made it 2-0 after a nice breakaway play, assisted by Matthew Reagan.  Roughnecks' Reagan Melcher scored her second goal of the game, assisted by Jackson Meyers, putting Rockyford ahead 3-0.

The Rockyford defence was turning out to be quite formidable, but Nico Charette seized a moment and tapped in a loose puck to finally put the Chinooks on the scoreboard at the 12:18 mark of the second period.  Abi Cryderman picked up an assist on that play.  A couple of minutes later Chinooks Captain Caleb Evans finally made good on many attempts with a textbook goal, assisted by Christopher LeBlanc.   That brought the score to 3-2 and the Chinooks were back in contention.

Building on their momentum in the third period Connor Stuckey scored for the Chinooks early in the third period, assisted by Caleb Evans and tying the score at 3-3.   At the 15:04 mark Abi Cryderman scored for the Chinooks, assisted by Beyonce Crowshoe, and the Chinooks were in the lead 4-0.  Rockyford bounced back with a goal at the 13:04 mark by Jace Schnuelle, assisted by Jackson Meyers.  4-4.

Jace Schnuelle and Tim Jorgensen

After 60 minutes of full-on play the game was still tied 4-4 at the final buzzer.

This was also a clean game with no penalties whatsoever.

Player of the Game awards went to #35 Jace Schnuelle of the Rockyford Rockets and #19 Tim Jorgensen of the Chinooks.

Game 2 - "A" Division Atom Chinooks 1 vs Rocky Mountain House Rockets

In their first game of the tournament Pincher Creek's Atom "A" Chinooks dominated the Rocky Mountain House Rockets.  The Chinooks got 5 unanswered goals in the first period. The Rockets had trouble getting past the Chinooks blueline and the Chinooks offence brought their A-game.  In the second period the Rockets rallied somewhat, scoring one goal to the Chinooks' two goals.  The third period was all about the Chinooks, who scored 5 goals that were unanswered until  Kalen Strawberry of the Rockets managed to get one in with only 5 seconds left in the game.

Despite the odds the Rockets never gave up, pouring everything they had into the contest.

Scoring for the Chinooks:

Rylan Bruns with 4 goals and an assist
Cade Ames with 2 goals and 2 assists
Logan Deley with 2 goals and an assist
Sam Jordan with 2 goals (both unassisted)
Trinity Tanner with 1 goal
Alex Comeau with 1 goal

Also getting assists were Wesley Krampe with 2, Easton Fitzpatrick, Jaxon Hammond, and Christian Berthiaume.

Player of the Game awards went to #8 Dawson Whitford of the Rockets and #9 Trinity Tanner of the Chinooks.

Related link: Pincher Creek Chinooks Atom Tournament Part 2