The Varsity Titans went 2-1-0 at the Bowling Green Holiday Tournament last week.  St. Francis and St. Ignatius also went 2-1-0 with St. Ignatius officially winning the tournament with a plus 6 goal differential.

The tournament started out very promising for SJJ with a very sound victory over rival St. Francis.  SJJ came away with a 4-2 victory that saw the Titans get better as the game went on.  SFS came out strong early on and put a lot of pressure on the Titans in the first period.  SJJ was able to convert on their first power play and they came out of the first 1-0.  SFS came out and got a goal of their own to tie the score early in the second.  SJJ and SFS traded goals midway through the second to keep the score tied at 2.  Mark Stansfield knocked home a rebound from a Ray Morris shot late in the second to take a 3-2 lead.  It was a lead they wouldn’t relinquish.  A Ray Morris wrist shot in the third made it 4-2 and a tired SFS team couldn’t put up a strong come back.

The next day was a different story for the Titan icers as they took on Cleveland St. Ignatius for the fourth time this season.  A very strong first period by SJJ produced several scoring opportunities but did not produce any goals and the first period ended with no scoring.  In the second, the Titans got on the board first to take a 1-0 lead.  Also in the second, the Titans took their first penalty.  During a stretch in the second and third periods, SJJ gave up three straight power play goals.  The inability to kill penalties did in the varsity icers as they were not able to put up much of a fight down the stretch and SJJ ended up on the wrong side of a 3-1 score.

In the finale against Bowling Green, SJJ once again came out with a lot of jump and energy.  Using their quickness and a good forecheck, they outshot BG 14-4 in the first period but only came away with a 1-0 lead.  Once again, the Titans took their first penalty in the second period and BG was able to convert on their first power play attempt to tie the score 1-1.  This time SJJ would not buckle.  They maintained their intensity and had several opportunities to retake the lead.  A strong effort by both BG’s goalie and Luc Gibb kept the score tied at 1-1 after regulation.  It was almost all SJJ in overtime as they outshot BG 5-1 but the score was still tied.  The game was going to be determined by a shootout.  Luc Gibb stopped all three of BG’s attempts and SJJ got shootout goals by Dan Johnson, Ray Morris and Mark Stansfield to claim the victory.

Congratulations on a good tournament overall.  Keep up that effort and the goals will follow…and so will the victories.