WEEKS ARE SEMI-FINALISTS AT MONCTONIAN !

WEEKS HAVE STRONG SHOWING AT MONCTONIAN

The Weeks Major Midgets traveled to Moncton, NB to compete in the 2017 Monctonian November 16-19 and proved what a high caliber squad they are by going 3-0 in round robin, winning 8-1 in the quarterfinals, and making it to the top 4 of 30 Midget AAA teams from all across Ontario, Quebec, and the Atlantic Provinces.  The boys conducted themselves as proud ambassadors of Northern Nova Scotia, and lived up to their hashtag "character matters most" both on and off the ice.  The Weeks boys were disheartened to not have Scott Long on the blue line as he was sidelined with an injury for the weekend, but Scotty joined the parents in the stands and supported his team every game.

Game one saw Weeks face off against the St. John Vitos, and the boys skated to a 4-3 victory.  Ben Fraser opened the scoring with 7  minutes left in the first with the help of Ben Williams.  The Vitos responded midway through the second, but Callum Bouma pulled Weeks ahead by a goal with under 5 minutes left in the second with Marc Aucoin and Jack Hartery adding assists.  The third period was back and forth as both teams battled hard for the puck.  Williams found the back of the net at the 7 minute mark, with Ryan MacLennan and Bouma helping set him up.  The Vitos answered just over a minute later, but Carson Lanceleve scored the eventual game winner with the help of Rowan Sears and Hunter Martin.  The Vitos bounced a quick one past Andrew MacLeod less than a minute later, but the Weeks strong defense and the brute strength of MacLeod kept Weeks ahead by one for the win when the clock ran out.  MacLeod remained strong in nets for all three intense periods.  The game unfortunately saw the loss of Colin MacGillivray who had to bow out of the rest of the tournament due to injury.  Hunter Martin hustled like a salesman at the county fair and took home the Hard Hat. 

Game two brought the boys head to head with The College Claretain Graal Midget AAA team from Quebec, and the Weeks boys outworked them to come away with a 3-2 win.  Williams lit up the scoreboard first with MacLennan sailing the puck out of the corner to him to take an early lead.  The College Claretain Graal scored two in the second to put the Weeks behind the eight ball heading into the third.  But the third period belonged to Weeks as Lanceleve slotted a pass from Bouma early in, and MacLennan fired the game winner in the back door with Sears and Lanceleve moving the puck and drawing the goalie over in a beauty of a set up.  Ben Gibbon stood on his head, his feet, his hands, and his skates to slam the door shut in the final minutes to keep the team ahead.  Ben Fraser threw more hits than Earth, Wind, and Fire did in the 70s and took the Hard Hat with him. 

Game three, the last one of the round robin, paired the Weeks boys against the OHA U17 Midget AAA team from Ontario in a heated battle to advance.  Both teams fought hard for the puck and forechecked their guts out, and both goalies proved their mettle by keeping both squads off the scoreboard until the final minutes of the game.  Sears blasted the puck right off the faceoff into the OHA net with just 2:11 left in the match and sent the Weeks fans to their feet cheering.  The Weeks defense and MacLeod stayed strong and kept the lead and took the game from OHA to round out a perfect round robin for Weeks.  Sears wore the Hard Hat to his hotel for nailing The Goal of the Century. 

The quarterfinal round brought Weeks back up against another strong NFLD squad, and the Weeks muscled the puck from the TriPen Osprey for the majority of the game and left with an 8-1 decision, and no penalties for either side for the duration of the game.  Lanceleve opened the scoring at the 14 minute mark with Justin Hardie and Sears setting him up.  Sears slammed a pass from Lanceleve 6 minutes later to double the lead to 2.  Hardie added a third unassisted in the final seconds of the first period.  Blake Kontuk opened the second period by nailing a pass from Wayne Denny to the back of the net, then scored his second of the game unassisted at 9:37.  Hardie rifled goal number 6 with 4 minutes left and the help of Lanceleve and Lucas Fabijancic.  Ben Fraser tallied the 7th and 8th goals of the game for Weeks 6 minutes apart with Williams and Hartery assisting.  The Osprey bounced one into the corner of the net with just over 3 minutes left, but it was too late to recover from the momentum the Weeks built during the game.  Gibbons kept guard beautifully and kept the NFLD team to just one.  Hardie forechecked like a banker on payday and wore the Hard Hat for his efforts. 

The Weeks faced the Dartmouth Steele Subaru Major Midgets in the final crossover round, and fell just short of the gold medal game with a 3-0 deficit and an empty netter sealing their fate.  

The Weeks will host the South Shore Mustangs for two games this weekend at the Pictou County Wellness Center.