Bantams make it 13 in a row
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Tillsonburg Oxford Source for Sports bantam rep hockey team improved to 13-0 in Southern Counties Wednesday night with a 5-1 win over Tavistock.
“We played well,” said Tillsonburg Tornadoes coach John Ralph. “We controlled most of it. We’ve played them all already (in SCMHA), so the boys know what to expect. We’ve slowed down a little bit, but it’s tough to keep them going every game – we’ve controlled from start to finish.”
Josh Verschueren scored the only goal of the first period Wednesday night, assisted by Matthew Meharg and Andrew Kersten.
Jesse Dunn notched a pair in the second, around a Jarrod Winters goal, to give Tillsonburg a 4-0 lead. Nehemiah Dube made it 5-0 in the final minute of the second period.
Zac Berg scored Tavistock’s only goal with a low screened shot from the blueline in the third.
“We’re still noticing stuff we need to work on,” said Ralph. “So that way, tonight’s game was good too. Just some system breakdowns defensively. Right now we’re not getting caught on them, but the stronger teams capitalize on them. It hasn’t hurt us yet, but…”
Tillsonburg was coming off a tournament championship in Woolwich, which Ralph said might have led to the team playing ‘a little loose’ and not as focused Wednesday.
“We played some pretty good teams in the Woolwich tournament. Had to work for it there, too, which is good.
“Our final was a pretty tough game. A 2-0 win, but we played that team (Mildmay) in the first round-robin game and tied them 4-4. We led twice in that one, we just had a couple mental breakdowns. The tying goal was kind of a lucky one. The boys played hard and played well in that one.
“We rolled both goalies (Tyler Hildebrant and Alessandro Palermo) and both are playing well.”
The North American Silver Stick qualifier in Pelham, Dec. 27-29 in Pelham, will be their next ‘big’ tournament.
“That’ll be a good one for us – right before OMHAs, so it works out nice.”
Tillsonburg 5, Tavistock 1
Tornadoes scoring: 1. Josh Verschueren (Matthew Meharg, Andrew Kersten); 2. Jesse Dunn (Nehemiah Dube, Alex Sutherland); 3. Jarrod Winters (Matthew Meharg, Alex Sutherland); 4. Jesse Dunn (Reese Battin); 5. Nehemiah Dube (Jesse Dunn).
The Oxford Source for Sports bantams are carrying an even mix of returnees, AE grads, and rookies on the roster.
“All three teams – the peewee reps, bantam AEs and bantam reps – did well last year. Two won OMHAs and our AE team was in the semis, so all of them know what it feels like to get that far and how it works to get there. They all have that experience.
“I figured coming in we’d have a strong team, put up lots of goals,” said Ralph, adding the team has met early season expectations. “They’re skating well, playing well.”