by Matt Grover

‘Hockey Stop’ Correspondent

 

                 Playing in its fourth game of the weekend, the Southern Illinois Ice Hawks Squirt B team found itself competing in the Affton Americans Thanksgiving Tournament Championship game. After two periods, the Ice Hawks were tied with the St. Peters Spirit and running on fumes. Fatigue was a concern for Ice Hawks Head Coach Scott Wallace.

                 “I was worried the kids’ legs might not be there,” Wallace said.

                 By the end of the game, Wallace’s concern morphed into jubilation as a third period rally saw the Ice Hawks skate to a 6-3 victory over the Spirit to capture the Affton Americans Thanksgiving Tournament Championship in the Squirt B Division in St. Louis on November 27-29.

                 “That third period they dug down deep and had a little left in the tank,” Wallace said.

                 Southern Illinois’ rally to the championship started against the same St. Peters Spirit team they would go on to beat in the championship.

                 Similar to the end of the tournament, the beginning was the same as the Ice Hawks blew open a close game in the third period to win the game 7-2.

                 “It was a pretty darn close game,” Wallace said. “We got a few lucky bounces in the third period.”

                 In game two, the Ice Hawks escaped with a 3-3 tie against the Meramec Sharks, after scoring the game-tying goal late in the third period.

                 “We were just plugging away and finally got one to go in,” Wallace said.

                 With a 1-0-1 record, the Ice Hawks clinched their spot in the championship game with an 11-0 dismantling of the St. Louis Rockets.

                 “The kids came out and played,” Wallace said. “I don’t know what happened. They came out and turned the light switch on.”

                 The light was able to stay on long enough for the Ice Hawks to fend off fatigue and the Spirit and capture the Affton Americans Thanksgiving Tournament Championship.

                 “The kids really enjoyed it,” Wallace said of his team’s victory.

                 As a reward for the championship, every player on the Ice Hawks will get to spend a few days with the championship trophy so they can show it off to friends at school and relish the championship a bit longer.

                 The 2009-10 Southern Illionis Ice Hawks Squirt B team includes: Quinten Albrecht, Bryce Cissell, Eddie Constance, Drew Dohlke, Austin Galloway, Ben Hotchkiss, Parker McDonald, Jacob Nielsen, Hayden Ourada, Brandon Petro, Trevor Smith and Jack Wallace.

                 The Ice Hawks will take a crack at winning their next tournament in mid-January during the Martin Luther King Jr. Holiday weekend when the team travels to Nashville.