Caledon Bandits peewees win the Bob Batching Tournament

July 9, 2014 · 0 Comments

The Caledon Bandits peewee 1 lacrosse team entered the recent Bob Patching Tournament as the host squad.
With drive, pure determination and a lot of hard work, they came away Peewee B Champions for the weekend.
In the first Friday evening game, they were matched up against an “A” rated team in Hamilton. With one of their best efforts of the season, they came away with a 6-4 win.
In the second game later that evening, they played Cornwall. They were no match for the host team as the Bandits won 6-1.
In the third game early Saturday morning they played against a very stubborn NOTL team, but at the end the boys prevailed 7-4.
The final round-robin game was against a Milton team who were also undefeated. The winner was guaranteed a spot in the finals. In the first period, it was looking like the boys were loosing their legs, falling behind 4-3. But they outscored their opponents 7-1 in the next two periods for a 10-5 win and a berth in the finals Sunday.
In the championship game, the Bandits were playing against the same Hamilton team they had previous topped in the round-robin play, but they knew it was going to be a different squad the second time around. Both teams came out strong, but with solid goaltending on both sides the score remained tied until late in the first, when Rory Kerins made it 1-0. Hamilton replied two minutes later to even it up, but with 34 seconds left in the first Reid Partridge made it 2-1.
The second period was similar to the first, in which both goaltenders made some key saves until late in the frame, Hamilton tied it up. The third started no different, with key saves again by Christian Rasmussen. But Hamilton sneaked on by to take the lead. Half way through the period, Matthew Zanelli made a nice pass to Kyle Rochester who beat the Hamilton goalie for the third tie of the game.
The play remained fast paced until a nice passing play from the Hamilton players made it 4-3 for the visitors. Caledon had numerous chances to tie it up, but could not find the back of the net. With just over a minute left and Hamilton two-men down, Kerins made a highlight behind the back pass to Zachary Dorval, who buried the ball to make it a 4-4 game.
Overtime was looming, but like the entire weekend, the boys from Caledon were determined and wanted to end the game before it started. Still a man up, Partridge with a solo effort put the Bandits up 5-4 with 13 seconds left. And for the final insurance, the team received an empty netter from Nathan Ruff. The final score was 6-4 and there first tournament win of the year.
The final game MVP was goaltender Rasmussen, who played outstanding the entire tournament.
But this tournament was a true team win, as every member of the team played there best lacrosse of the season. They would like to thank the Caledon Bandits Tournament committee for all there hard work and for a great run tournament and a big thanks to all the parents for helping out in the volunteering.

Members of the Caledon Bandits peewee 1 lacrosse team are (front row) Christian Rasmussen, (second row) Kyle Rochester, Nathan Ruff, Zachery Ough, Darcy Thompson, Patrick Duffey, Zachary Dorval, Carson des Roche, (third row) Rory Kerins, Quinn Sullivan, Thomas McClure, Reid Partridge, Blake Martin-King, Matthew Zannelli, (back row) and coaching staff Mike Ruff, Toby Rasmussen, Reid Partridge, Neil Sullivan and Dave Rochester.