On Wednesday night, January 16th, at 10:45pm, the biggest battle of the year took place at Evinrude Center. With over 800 Trent students there to show their support for their college and their bank, the college spirit was alive and well at Trent. Students at Trent also showed their support for the community as about 150-200 canned items were brought in at nights end, the raffle tickets were sold out along with chuck-a-puck pucks, and a grand total of (money) was raised to donate to the Peterborough Youth Emergency Center.
Before the official game started, the representative from the Peterborough Youth Emergency Center, Walter Johnstone, was welcomed onto the ice to do the unofficial puck drop between the East bank captain #93 Mike Mann and the West bank captain #69 Drew Hampel, in which West bank won the draw.
After the draw, it was time for the real fun to begin. Players from each team took their place around center ice and goalies went to their nets. The starting goalie for East bank was #1 Devon Courneya and for West bank was # 41 Jack Barry. Right from the face off, East bank took the advantage, and score the first goal of the game only 13 seconds into the first period. The goal was scored by #71 George Ripoll. Not even a minute later #13 Keegan Pearce scored the second goal of the game for East bank with the assist going to #12 Travis Brault.
West bank made their first appearance on the board with the first two minute penalty of the game served by #99 Joshua Buck for tripping, only two minutes into the game. It wasn’t until about 5 minutes in that West Bank got their first goal scored by #11 Ryan Crowley. For the next few minutes the puck went back and forth between both ends as the goalies were making save after save. Finally with six minutes left, #13 Keegan Pearce broke the cycle and scored his second goal of the period for East bank, then with less than a minute to go, #12 Travis Brault, scored one final goal for East bank, making the score 4-1 going into the second period.
This is where the game got interesting. West bank picked up the pace and stepped up their game, so they were not left in East banks shadow. About two minutes into the period, #00 Brett Bishop took the lead and scored a goal for West bank, slowly closing the gap. But that wasn’t enough for #00 Brett Bishop, as he decided he wanted another goal under his belt. He pushed his way through East banks defenses and scored West banks third goal. Half way through the period, the goalies switched it up, and the new goalies took their places. In the net for West bank was # 29 Trevor Green, and for East bank # 33 James Vallesi. Only a few moments later, #11 Ryan Crowley followed his teammates lead, scoring a goal, and tying the game 4-4.
During the second intermission, Britt Evans and John West-Carvalho, made their way to center ice to start the chuck-a-puck. The point is to get the puck you through as close to the center ice as possible, but as the pucks were being thrown it become clear that it is much hard then it looks as puck were sliding all over the ice, and not a single one landed in the center. Next up was the Raffle, in which everyone in the was anxious to see if they would win the grand prize.
It was time for the final period of the game, and with the score being tied at 4-4, the game could go either way. Fans were at the edge of their seats, as both teams were kicking it into high gear trying to score a goal to put their team in the lead. But the goalie would not have it, as they made one exceptional save after another. During the whistles, # 33 James Vallesi, the goalie for East bank would pump up the crowd with his awesome dance moves, to keep the excitement levels high. It was a tense game until half way through the period when #48 Greg Trotter score the first goal of the period for East bank, and giving them the upper hand. West bank tried to retaliate but East bank fought back with everything they had. In the final two minutes of the game East banks efforts paid off as they scored two more goals. One scored by # 89 Jeffery Minico and the second scored by #93 Mike Mann, making the score 7- 4 for East
With only 45 seconds left in the third period, East bank had the chance to score one more goal with a penalty shot, that #88 Christine Zentai took. Unfortunately, # 29 Trevor Green, the West bank goalie stopped it at the last second. In the end East bank took the trophy, winning the game 7-4. After the game, each team picked a MVP for the game. The MVP for East bank went to #88 Christine Zentai, and #00 Brett Bishop was named MVP for West bank.
Over all the game was a huge success, and received amazing coverage form Chex TV sports reporter Tyler Calver. Hopefully next year will be even bigger! Congratulation East bank on your win!