March 14th - Newmarket Redmen v. Aurora Tigers - Minor Peewee AE
Amazing and Surreal.
Hundreds
of Aurora hockey players and parents took to the stands at ACC1 last
night to show their support for the team after the recent passing of
their Assistant Coach, Kyle Hewitt.
The energy
level inside ACC1 for the Minor Peewee AE first playoff home game
against Newmarket was enough to make the coaches and players feel like
they were at the real ACC. The cheering, clapping, and spontaneous
starts of A-U, A-U-R, A-U-R-O-R-A, T-I, T-I-G, T-I-G-E-R-S, GOOOO
TIGERS! felt like it was lifting the roof off the building. This was
easily one of the largest crowds that people had seen in ACC1 in some
time.
On the ice, the Tigers did not disappoint their supporters. It was a tight game the whole match, with the players giving it their all, and playing some gritty playoff hockey. With the team trailing by one late in the third period, it was almost fitting that a goal was scored by Kyle's son, Tyler, to bring the match to 1-1 with less than 5-minutes to go. Newmarket came back strong, and a few minutes later found the back of the net to pull ahead again with a shot that took some unfortunate bounces not in the Tigers' favour. As they have done all season, this Tigers team did not give up, they poured it on strong and gave it their all up to the last second. Despite their efforts, the game ended 2-1 for Newmarket.
Despite the loss, this team was able to proudly hold their heads high with the help they received from their hockey community last night. Win, lose, or draw. This team will play on for Coach Kyle!
On behalf of the Minor Peewee AE players, staff, and parents, a sincere thank you to the entire hockey community for their outpouring of support during the past couple of weeks.
The series against Newmarket is now tied at one game a piece with the next game scheduled for Thursday 8pm at the Magna Centre.
-Jerome Gaspari