By John DeCoste
The Valley midget Wildcats brought home silver medals from the annual Monctonian Midget AAA tournament Nov. 15-18 in New Brunswick.
After finishing the round robin portion of the tournament with a 3-0-1 record, the Wildcats advanced to the final by doubling the Ottawa Junior 67s 4-2 in semifinal action Sunday morning, only to drop a 3-2 overtime decision to the Moncton Flyers.
In their opening game Nov. 15, the Wildcats and Central Ice Pack skated to a 3-3 tie. Tanner Forrest and Grant Janes each had a goal and an assist, and Brett Tidman gave Valley a 3-2 lead 8:54 into the third period.
In game two Friday morning, Valley edged Miramichi Rivermen 4-3 on Forrest's game-winner at 4:24 of the third. Tidman, Janes and Nick Blanchard also scored for the Wildcats.
Game three was against Ontario Hockey Academy, and the Wildcats claimed a 2-1 win on defenseman Patrick Duggan's game-winner. Jacob McNutt had the other Valley goal.
The Wildcats' final round-robin game was a relatively easy 5-1 win over St. John's Privateers. Tidman, Makail Parker, Robert Patterson, Forrest and Michael Dill had the Valley goals.
In the semifinals, Janes scored the game-winner in the second period of a 4-2 win over Ottawa. Blanchard, McNutt and Patterson also scored for the Wildcats.
Against Moncton in the final, the teams finished regulation time tied at two before Ryan Chaisson scored the game-winner after 7:49 of overtime. Blanchard had a goal and an assist for the Wildcats, and McNutt scored the other Valley goal.
In their most recent league action, the Wildcats gained a split of their weekend games Nov. 10-11.
After dropping a 3-2 decision to Halifax Titans Saturday in Berwick, the Wildcats bounced back to edge Cole Harbour 2-1 Sunday to improve their first-place record to 19-2 with one overtime loss and one shootout loss for 40 points.
