DDO Civics win last-second thriller in tourney title game

BY ANDY BLATCHFORD

andy.blatchford@transcontinental.ca



Sometimes all it takes is a bounce.

It took the Dollard des Ormeaux midget A Civics until the final moments of a championship game to figure this out during a March 9-11 tournament in Buckingham, Que.

Forward Andrew Peker buried the tournament-winning goal with four seconds left in the third period of the title game against the Gatineau Remparts.

Moments earlier during a two-on-one break, linemate Brian Mestel's off-target backhander ricocheted off the back boards, Peker picked up the puck, swung in front of the net and drove it into the top shelf.

"The way we won in the last four seconds is really exciting," head coach Laurence Friedman said last week. "We've really never experienced a victory like that."

The tournament finale was a thriller from the first drop of the puck.

After a scoreless opening period, he Civics jumped ahead 1-0 early in the second when Justin Friedman hammered home a one-timer on a feed from Mestel.

But the lead disappeared as the resilient Remparts stormed back with two scores of their own.

Goalkeepers Daniel Levy and Steve Safar, who split time between the pipes, both made several key saves to keep the Civics in the game.

But the Gatineau squad answered with a pair and headed into the second intermission with a one-goal lead.

The teams each scored two goals in the third (Cameron Maddux scored for the Civics, assisted by Mark Cheung and Michael Fishman and Friedman tallied his second, assisted by Mestel and Kyle Dana), but the Dollard club battled back.

With just over three minutes left, Zack Goldig fired a pass to Peker who streaked down the right wing and slipped the puck past the goaltender through an opening on the short side.

The game was tied 4-4 until Peker scored the winner a few minutes later.

Friedman said the victory was a little sweeter for a handful of Civics veterans who fell short in the final game of last year's Buckingham tournament.

"It was a really long drive home last year," Friedman said of the trip back from Buckingham, about 50 kilometres northeast of Ottawa.

He said team chemistry was essential in helping the gang of 15-, 16-, and 17-year-olds bring home this year's title.

"It's a great group of guys," Friedman said. "They get along real well. It really reflected in the way they played."