Centre Dufferin girls battle for playoff berth in District 4 hockey

Written By BRIAN LOCKHART

It is shaping up to be a tough season in District 4 girls hockey with some pretty evenly matched teams on the ice.

The Centre Dufferin District High School Royals team put a win behind them during tournament day in Orangeville on Thursday, January 10, when they left the ice with a 2-0 win over Erin District High School. The Royals have played four games that ended in a tie so far this year.

District 4 girl's hockey is played on a series of tournament days with venues being rotated around the region with teams playing three games on each day which count toward their regular season record.

The latest tournament saw the Royals squeezed out 1-0 in their first game with Wellington Heights Secondary School. The second game of the day resulted in a 6-0 loss to Westside Secondary School.

The final game ended with the Royals picking up two points for the win over Erin.

“It's tiring, but you make sure you have something to eat between games so you have energy,” said Royals goalie, Hannah Bremner, of playing three games in a single day. “At the very beginning you're low on energy because your not used to playing so many games but after the first tournament you get into the groove of it.”

The Royals played a solid final game of the tournament keeping the Erin team out of their zone and moving the play into the Erin zone.

“In our second game we sort of ran out of gas,” Hannah said. “In our third game we rebounded and were able to come out with the win. We got way more shots in our third game. In our second game we were more in our zone on defence. In our third game we were able to create way more offence. We were barely down in our end. In the last period I think I only got one shot on net.”

After Thursday's tournament, Norwell District Secondary School is in first place with a 6-1-2 record.

Wellington Heights is in the number two spot with five wins, followed by Westside Secondary School and Erin District High School.

With the top four teams getting a spot in the playoffs the Royals will have to win a couple of games in the next tournament to make the cut.

They will get their chance on Thursday, February 7, when the teams will arrive in Shelburne to play the final tournament at the Centre Dufferin Recreation Complex.