CDDHS Royals hockey team win opening game

November 7, 2013 · 0 Comments

The high school hockey season opened this week (Tue. Nov. 5) with the Centre Dufferin District High School Royals leaving ice with a 6–2 win over the visiting Bishop MacDonell Celtics.

After going head 2–0 in the first period the Royals kept up the pressure and produced some nice action on the forecheck in the Celtics end, while maintaining a solid defensive posture when the puck came down to the Royals end.

Third period action saw the Royals notch two more to take the win.

Royals goals came from Ty McCallum, Ben Ardis, Kyle Latter, and Trevor Bell, with Kyle Paulitzki notching two for the game.

The squad played the first game of the season with a short bench as some of the players were away on a school trip.

“We weren’t really sure,” said coach Steve Stewart of how the game might go with players missing. “We’re missing a couple of kids who are in Europe – they left at lunch time today. We have 20 on the team and we had 15 skaters dressed today.”

For hockey, districts four and ten cross over the play each other.

“Some of the bigger schools have mainly senior guys, but some of the smaller schools have a mix of junior and senior players. Our kids play in six different centres (in minor hockey).

The Royals did well in the circuit last season but have lost several key players who had the talent to go on to Junior level hockey in the region making them ineligible to play at the collegiate level.

Tuesday’s game proved the Royals to be a tenacious team and a team that plays smart.

“We had a lot of good chances, we hit a lot of posts,” Stewart said. “Our guys worked hard. We had a couple of quick breaks but I think we were pretty happy with how we controlled the play.”

Bryce Dillman was in goal for the Royals.

The Royals will be on the road for a November 8, game against St. James.

They will return to home ice at the Centre Dufferin Recreation Complex on Tuesday, November 19, to host Centre Wellington District High School.

Game time is 2 p.m.

By Brian Lockhart