12U Black made their second tournament trip to Hampton Roads a successful one, running the table and winning all 4 games to take the Beach Battle Championship. After shaking off some early rust by rallying from 3 goals down to beat the Charleston Stingrays 4-3, the Raiders hung on for a 3-2 win over Piedmont and then polished off the New Jersey Thunder 5-3, setting up a rematch with Piedmont in the Championship game.
The parents were on edge, unable to wait out the long lines for the famed grilled chicken sammy at the Chilled Ponds snack stand but also responsible enough to avoid the tempting refreshment specials while the ice was being resurfaced. Finally, the Raider 12U Black Team emerged from the locker room, led by G Austin Morrison onto the ice.
A tight first period ensued, with back and forth play but the Raider defense doing a great job of limiting the Pred's chances. Then with less than 7 minutes left, Nicholas Spencer curled out of the corner and spotted Brody Evans floating to open ice on the far side, slid a flat pass across that Brody was able to pick up off a deflection and bury it short side low for a 1-0 Raider lead. That held until midway through the second when the Preds tied it up on a rebound off a blocked shot.
The Raiders jumped ahead when Leandra Barger won a tough puck battle in the corner and showed her puck protect skills in getting it to the net with a backhander off the goalie's pads. Andrew Berk had his stick on the ice the whole time, quiet as a church mouse on the back door and banged the rebound into an open net for a 2-1 lead.
Into the third, still 2-1, the Raiders had a super passing play with McCoy Kuehn gathering up a loose puck off the faceoff, feeding it back to Brody who quickly fed it to Leandra on the point, who walked it in 10 feet and let go a laser top corner for the insurance goal. Then soon after, the Raiders came back with another goal, with Parker Berk and Oliver Yu breaking the puck out and working together up the ice, ending with Parker getting a slap pass from Oliver for a nice goal all alone in front. To seal the deal with 6 minutes left, the Raiders again broke out clean, with a Hugh Spencer quick up to McCoy Kuehn, who head manned it to Brody for a far side low shot to give the Raiders a 5-2 lead and the winning margin.
Great job by head coach Pete Kelly and his assistants in getting the team to play unselfish hockey and bring home the championship banner. 12U Black champs are Leandra Barger, Andrew Berk, Euan Carew, Teddy Cope, Brody Evans, Cristian Kelly, Hridhaan Keswani, McCoy Kuehn, Malcolm McLenahan, Austin Morrison, Grayson Odell, Calvin Pomeroy, Heath Snyder, Nicholas Spencer, Hugh Spencer, Brennan Webb and Oliver Yu.
