After wrapping up their regular season, the Clippers traveled to Montreal for the Can/Am Tournament.
Several families slipped into Montreal a day early and caught the Montreal-Chicago game at the Bell Centre that featured a surprise treat arranged by Heather - a post-game meet and greet with P.K. Subban. Many thanks Heather!
Everyone was impressed by the quality of this tournament including the excellent arena facilities, the skills competition, the full set of game and player stats Can/Am posted and updated on the tourney site, and the hockey friendly Hampton Inn.
In the tournament, the Clippers faced four American teams. In the Friday opener against the New England Edge, the Clippers broke open a 1 - 1 game in the third period with five unanswered goals. Goal markers were Aitoro (assist Lewis), Aitoro (assists Ferrara, Torres), McNeil (unassisted), Philip (assists Ferrara, Tratnik), Tratnik (assists Pronesti, Black), and McNeil (assist Philip). Williams turned away 12 of 13 shots for the win. In the second game on Friday, the Clippers peppered Hanover Elite with 28 shots and capitalized on their chances with goals by Aitoro (assist Pelosi), Ferrara (assist Pelosi), Byk (assists McNeil, Longman), Pronesti (assists Aitoro, Black), and Aitoro (assists Ferrara, Torres) for a 5-0 victory. Von Kaufman turned away 22 shots for the shutout.
Saturday morning featured the Clippers up against the Providence Capitals. The team's performance was a little sluggish in this game and the Clippers were down 2-0 by the third period before Hough (assist Byk) scored to make it exciting in the last few minutes. But the Clippers weren't able to find the back of the net again and surrendered a 2-1 loss. In the final round robin game, the Clippers dominated, outshooting the Express 29 - 1, and potting goals from Ferrara (assist Pelosi), McNeil (assist Philip), Ferrara (assists Aitoro, Pelosi), and Ferrara (assist Van Namen) for a 4-0 victory and the top seed into the gold medal match on Sunday.
In the Gold medal matchup, the Clippers came to play from the first drop of the puck, putting strong pressure on Hanover Elite throughout the game. Still despite no letup by the Clippers it was scoreless into the second period until a marker at 9:33 by McNeil (assists Pronesti, Philip) opened the scoring. The game remained tense until 2:28 of the third when Cusack found the net (assists Philip, Longman) to give some breathing room. The Clippers held fast the rest of the period despite a few penalties and Von Kaufman turned away 21 shots for the shutout.
Congratulations to the Clippers PeeWee AA on a fine team effort and tournament win!