The Erin-Hillsburgh Atom AE Devils take 2nd place in the championship final game at the Presidents Day - Niagara Falls, NY tournament!
For the Family Day long weekend our Erin-Hillsburgh Atom AE Devils traveled to Niagara Falls, NY to participate in a Presidents Day tournament organized by Niagara Sports Tournaments. The Devils made it to the semi-finals on Sunday to play the Lancaster Firebirds (Pennsylvania), the first time this year they had competed against a US based hockey team. After three periods of play the Devils came out on top winning 4-2 with goals by Daniel Brooksbank, Matthew Martin, Jacob Hosford and assists by Nathan Andrae, Chris Halligan, Taylor Allison and Cody Martin. This win slingshot them into the tournament championship final game on Monday against the Milton Winterhawks.
Milton proved to be a worthy
adversary, gaining 2-0 lead with goals in the first and second periods. The Devils never gave up, pressuring the Winterhawks so much they accumulated 6 penalties in that period alone. Continuing the pressure the Devils came back to tie the game 2-2 with goals by Matthew Martin and Chris Halligan, assisted by Jacob Hosford, Spencer Abbott and Braeden St. Denis sending the game into a 5 minute 4-on-4 overtime. By this time, the word had spread, the game of the tournament was being played between two Canadian teams in Hyde Park Ice Pavilion Arena 2 and attendance had almost tripled to watch the overtime. The Devils dominated overtime spending most of the period in the Winterhawks end. The overtime concluded with no change in score forcing a 3 player shootout.
The shootout lasted just 5 shots with the Winterhawks coming out on top. That said, the Devils represented Erin-Hillsburgh and Canada with pride, gracefully accepting their silver medals then skating across the ice to shake hands with the Winterhawks and respectfully congratulate them on their victory. Another great tournament for the 2013-14 Atom AE Devils!