5 April 2009
LLFHL Championship Weekend 2009 • • • • • •
Saturday, April 5, 2009, LLFHL Final
Toronto Midget Aeros 5 at Windsor Wildcats 1 Aeros take full advantage of power plays to win LLFHL title
Toronto and Windsor had not faced each other this year so both teams were looking forward to a challenging and interesting final game of the LLFHL season. The first four minutes of the game were entertaining, but after that a plethora of penalties took all flow away and made the game into a “wonder what will happen next” affair. As stated, the teams felt each other out in the first four minutes and it was pretty entertaining hockey. The Aeros drew the first penalty at the 10:26 mark but killed it well, and then at the 8-minute mark the line-up to the penalty box started. In the next 11 minutes of playing time, Windsor would play short-handed by 1 player for over 6 minutes, short-handed by 2 players for almost 3 minutes, and even for only 2 minutes. The Wildcats PK was exceptional for the first 6 and a half minutes of that time, keeping the Aeros at bay, but the Toronto team slowly wore down the ’cats to take advantage of their power plays, scoring three times by the time it was over at the 12:11 mark of the second period. In the remainder of the second period, the teams would draw an additional 6 penalties each, making it impossible to develop any flow in the game, so there was no further scoring. As both teams headed to the dressing room for the second period flood, the game seemed somehow less important than the tense atmosphere in the building, with the Windsor squad obviously frustrated with the number of calls being assessed to them and the usual noise from fans in the rink being somewhat more agitated than usual. After the second period flood it was hoped that things would settle back into a hockey game. But Windsor took their 15th penalty of the game only 3:34 into the period, and the Aeros quickly scored their fourth goal on the resulting power play. A Windsor coach was ejected after the goal. Two minutes later, another Windsor penalty, another Aeros score on the power play, and another Wildcat coach ejection. In the last 3:30 of the game, the Aeros then took 4 penalties of their own, and Windsor popped one in for posterity, but it was pretty much all over by then with the Aeros taking the game 5-1 on 5 power play goals. Aeros scoring:
1st period
1:33 Vanessa Spataro (3) from Kate Martini (10) 2nd period
13:22 Carolyn Luczak (26) from Paulena Jakarsezian (11)
12:11 Paulena Jakarsezian (11) from Daniella Dal Colle (14) and Kathryn Schilter (21) 3rd period
11:12 Kate Martini (10) from Megan Hagg (24) and Marissa Maugeri (16)
7:32 Kathryn Schilter (21) The Aeros will proudly wear their LLFHL gold medal--their 3rd league title in 5 years, and congratulate the Windsor Wildcats on their Silver medal. And congratulations also go out to the Guelph Thunder for winning the Bronze medal. With the LLFHL finals now wrapped up and their playing season over, the Midget Aeros would like to thank their volunteers and parents for another great season. Many thanks to coaches Ken Dufton, Frank Marson, and Peggy Donohue for your many hours of dedication and instruction at the rinks. Thanks to the LLFHL for a smoothly-run season. Best of luck to graduating Midgets Daniella Dal Colle, Ellen Brandt, Paulena Jakarsezian and Michelle Zimmer--may you carry the Aeros spirit and represent the Aeros well wherever you go. And thanks to all of the girls for your hard work and for providing your fans with some hugely entertaining hockey over the last 9 months. See you all next season! 
Saturday, April 5, 2009, LLFHL Semi-final
Toronto Aeros 1 at Whitby Wolves 0 (OT) Aeros score in OT to best Whitby and advance to play for gold.
The Toronto Aeros were nursing a third straight undefeated regular season earlier this year until a cross-over game with the Whitby Wolves on January 11. Despite being out-chanced in that game, the Whitby girls defeated the Aeros 2-0. That game, coupled with Whitby’s undefeated season and Provincial Silver medal, plus a potential league championship on the line, gave the Aeros’ girls lots of motivation heading into this semi-final game. On the other hand, Whitby’s loss in the Provincial Gold medal game gave them equal motivation, so fans on both sides were expecting a hard-fought contest. And hard-fought it was. The Aeros opened a little tentatively and immediately paid for it with Whitby getting several scoring chances in the first few minutes. But after that the game was played equally. Sometimes Whitby was first to the puck, sometimes Toronto was. Sometimes Whitby won the battles on the boards, sometimes the Aeros did. Sometimes the Wolves took the face-offs and had a scoring chance; sometimes the Aeros girls did. There was not an abundance of great scoring chances, because although both teams have good offenses their defensive squads are equally strong. And, if a forward did happen to get in close, the able goaltending of Whitney Woodcox (1) for Whitby and Brittany McMacken (29) for Toronto kept the puck out of the cage. And so on it went, end to end, fans gripping their Tim Hortons cups ever more tightly until the final buzzer sounded with a zero on either side, scoreless after regulation. With their hopes of advancing to play for gold on the line, both teams headed into the 5-minute overtime period. It began with more of the same end-to-end play, but 44 seconds into the extra period an over-zealous Whitby line change resulted in 7 players on the ice and an unfortunate too-many-player penalty. The Aeros set up their power play but the Wolves valiantly defended. About 90 seconds into the power play, a face off win by Adriana Leon (19) resulted in a point shot on net that Woodcox stopped. On the next face-off, Leon again won the face-off back to Carolyn Luczak (26), who wound up and let loose a hard shot about 2 feet off the ice. In the meantime, left winger Paulena Jakarsezian (11) had moved quickly into position to screen the Whitby goalie, who saw the puck too late to prevent it from going in. Aeros goal! 1-0 Aeros! The Aeros now face the Windsor Wildcats in the LLFHL gold medal game this afternoon, while Whitby meets the Guelph Thunder in the bronze medal contest. Good luck to all teams!
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