Hornets Finish 3rd in Beantown Classic

The Beantown Classic concluded with the Hometown Hornets securing an impressive 3rd place finish with a 6-2 pasting of the Portland Junior Pirates. Furman South fresh off his assist trifecta in an earlier tournament game morphed into a goal scoring Furman with a three goal performance against the floundering pirates. Other goals were scored by Ronnie Cramer (on an absolutely beautiful 50 foot tape-to-tape feed from Matt Celin that sent Ronnie in alone on a breakaway. Jake Machel tallied another goal, capitalizing on the hard corner work and a pass punched out by Brian McGinty to Jake. Mark Polidor closed out the scoring, as Pat Gaul (3x), Polidor (2X) and Dan Sidle all chipped in assists throughout the scoring as the Portland Pirates slipped fast to a watery grave.

Shattuck St. Mary's and the Chicago Young Americans staged an epic battle for the tournament championship as a fiesty CYA squad came away with the victory and tournament championship. The teams battled to a 2-2 tie and continued their final "Battle in Beantown" with 2 overtimes featuring fast paced action. The outcome was still not determined, even after an initial shootout round, but the tenacious, overachieving CYA finally seized the victory in a sudden death shootout.

As mentioned in earlier reports, the tournament was packed with NHL Scouts and virtually every team in NCAA Division 1. During their stay, the Hornets were also treated as guests of the University of New Hampshire to their game against the University of Massachusetts-Lowell. The warm up game to that main event featured the Boston Jr. Bruins of the EJHL playing the US-NDTP U17 team. Of interest to Hornet fans, Hornet C.J. Severyn of the US-NDTP-17 team competed against Hornet Nick Decroo of the Jr. Bruins. The Jr. Bruins beat the US-NDTP 2-0 as Nick Decroo scored with 3:50 left in the game to ice away the victory for the Bruins. Congratulations to both C.J. and Nick for doing so well and carrying the Hornets banner with pride as they follow in a long line of Hornet alumni climbing the ladder of amateur hockey success.

Next on the schedule, the Hornets participate in the prestigious Team Illinois Thanksgiving Tournament this weekend.

(webmaster comment – on a final note, we have received reports from certain teenage animal activists expressing concern about the safety of the bees used in the staged picture from our previous report of the Hornets victory over the Greater Boston Bruins. As animals ourselves, the safety of our fellow members of the animal kingdom is always paramount, and we can personally confirm that that no bees were injured or harmed in the staging or photographing of the mock photo used in the hockey update. – Go Hornets!!!)