The two best teams of the tournament took to the ice on Sunday to decide the Championship.  The Storm, in their 4th Championship Game in 5 tournaments were hoping this was finally the day they'd take home the Gold.

The 1st Period was fast paced with great end to end action.  Both goalies came up with some stellar stops but it was the Storm who held the advantage in scoring chances.

The Storm took the lead early in the 2nd on a powerplay goal by Blake Howard as he converted a cross ice pass from Riley Brown.  The Stars would get their own powerplay chance late in the frame but Thomas Snary raced the length of the ice to score shorthanded and put the Storm up by two heading into the 3rd.

In what has become a curse in this arena, the two goal 3rd Period lead did not hold.  After Logan Gardner ripped one off the cross bar a Stars defender grabbed the big carom and sped down the ice for a breakaway goal.  In a blink the score went from almost being 3-0 to becoming a 2-1 nailbiter.  The Stars would tied the score with five minutes to play on a quick shot from the side of the Storm goal.  The teams continued to battle and put on a display of some very good hockey.  With just under four minutes to play the Storm were called for two penalties on the same stoppage.  Rather than being two men short for two minutes one player was assessed a double minor meaning the Storm were shorthanded for the remainder of regulation time.  The Storm did a great job on the penalty kill, losing another player to the bin with a coincidental with just under two minutes to play.  The Stars would get a breakaway with under ten seconds to go but Kaymond Turner made an amazing save to send the game into Overtime.

After finally killing off the last of the four minute penalty the Storm quickly found themselves shorthanded again.  Again the penalty killers and Turner withstood the barrage but not long after the penalty expired the Stars struck for the winner on a laser of a shot from in tight.

The Storm played a great tournament and carried the play through most of the games.  Even though they didn't get the Gold they deserved the boys should be very proud of capturing 4 Silvers out of 5 tournaments.

The Storm now set their sights on one more chance for a Championship as they head back into League Playoffs looking to secure a birth into the Final.

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The Storm faced off against the host squad, the Blue Water Stars, on Saturday afternoon for their final game of the Round Robin.  The Storm were sitting at 1-0-1 while the Stars were at 2-0-0 so a win or tie by the Storm would pit these two against each other in the Final.  As the Storm tend to enjoy the dramatic they allowed the Stars two 3rd Period goals to have the game end in a 3-3 tie.

The 1st Period was all Storm as the duo of Ryleigh Vanderwal and Jake Prudom teamed up to give the team a 2-0 lead, each assisting on the other's goal.  The Storm had quite a few other chances to add to their lead but their lack of finish was going to come back to haunt them.

The Stars would get one back on breakaway goal early in the 2nd to cut the lead in half.  Ben Brant made a great effort to snag the high shot but the blue puck had enough spin on it to just make its way over the goal line.  Blake Howard would use yet another coast to coast effort to give the Storm back their two goal cushion heading into the 3rd.

The 3rd Period opened with the Storm shorthanded and a failure to clear the puck all the way out of the zone resulted in a Stars goal.  The Storm were back on their heels trying to protect their lead when the Stars managed to get a lucky bounce to tie the score with just over two minutes remaining.  The teams both fought hard for the win but neither could snap the tie.

With the final Round Robin standings of:

Blue Water Stars 2-0-1 for 5pts
Mooretown Storm 1-0-2 for 4pts
Petrolia Oilers 0-1-2 for 2pts
Soo USA 0-2-1 for 1 pt

the Storm and the Stars were set for a rematch to determine the Tournament Champion on Sunday.

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The Storm were up before the sun to take on Sault Ste Marie USA at 7:45am in Game 2 of the Tournament.  After a slow start the Storm came alive for a solid 4-0 victory.

The tandem of Ben Brant and Kaymond Turner turned away every Soo opportunity to share the shutout.

After a scoreless 1st Logan Gardner got the Storm on the board burying a loose puck in the slot with Parker McKegan and Luke Nahmabin assisting.  Before the period would end Blake Howard would add another, from Riley Brown, on a nice backhand deke.

In the 3rd the Storm would add two more.  Gardner, from Bryce Little, and then Ryleigh Vanderwal off a nice Jake Prudom deflection of a Howard point shot would round out the scoring.  If not for some great saves by the Soo keeper the Storm could have won in a trounce as they blitzed the net shift after shift.

The Storm need a win or a tie in their next game to ensure a birth into the Championship Final after Petrolia was beaten 5-1 by the host Blue Water Stars.

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The Storm kicked off the Port Huron Shamrock Tournament by facing a familiar foe in the Petrolia Oilers.  The two teams have met up a lot this season; splitting games in League play, the Oilers winning in Silver Stick action and the Storm coming out on top in OMHA Playdowns and in League Playoff action. 

With the teams so evenly matched it was no surprise this game ended in a 3-3 tie.

Petrolia lit the lamp first tallying the only goal of the opening period on a ricochet from behind the net.

Two minutes into the 2nd Blake Howard finished a beautiful end to end rush with an even prettier deke to tie the score.  Ryleigh Vanderwal picked up the lone assist.  Petrolia picked up the pace and carried most of the play the rest of the period as they were definitely out for some revenge.  The Oilers would score twice more to take a two goal lead into the 3rd.

At the mid-point of the 3rd the Storm finally got their game on track as Logan Gardner set up Bryce Little in the slot to close to within one.  Parker McKegan picked up an assist with some hard work below the goal line.  With just under five minutes to play Cole Clements picked up a pass from Hunter Seguin and blasted a wrist shot over the goalie's shoulder to tie the score.  Petrolia pressed for the winner but Kaymond Turner, in for the second half in relief of Ben Brant, stood tall and made a couple of game savers.  The Storm looked to steal the game in the dying seconds but the buzzer would sound as two Storm forwards were digging at a loose puck in the crease.

The Storm will need to step up their play if they want a chance at gold as they take on two strong U.S. squads on Saturday.

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