FOXBORO – Six games, six wins, 61 goals scored, just three goals against and one tournament championship.
That was the final stat line for Rink Eye Selects. It was a dominant run at the 2015 Mini Chowder Cup they concluded on Sunday with a 5-1 victory over SHD Ottawa in the 2002 Division Championship game.
Both teams took the ice at Foxboro Sports Center for the final match after scoring 3-0 victories in the semifinals earlier in the day. Rink Eye defeated Pro Hockey White to advance, while SHD took down the Boston Jr. Whalers in their semifinal set.
Like they had all weekend, Rink Eye came out swinging in the final, quickly grabbing the advantage as Kalloway Mercer netted a shorthanded score at 2:53 for the 1-0 lead. A lead that grew to 2-0 before the game was even five minutes old following a score by Cameron Snow at 4:56.
Rink Eye continued to cruise, adding another pair of goals – a second of the contest from Snow and one from Dylan Peterson, who finished as the game’s leading scorer with a goal and two assists – to extend their lead to 4-0. A power play goal by Matt Choupani broke up the Selects assault and made it 4-1 at 19:05, but there was little room left for a comeback for SHD against their imposing foe.
To quell any thoughts that there might have been, Ben Roger put a stamp on the championship with a power play goal of his own for Rink Eye at 24:17, setting the score at its 5-1 final. It was the largest margin of victory seen in any of the Mini Chowder Cup’s three championship games.
After the game, All-Tournament honors were announced. Mercer and Choupani were named as All-Tournament forwards along with SHD’s Rocco Testa-Basi. Rink Eye’s Nate Boak and SHD’s Alex Rossides manned the All-Tournament blue line, while Rink Eye’s Ty Austin stood in net, selected as All-Tournament Goaltender.
With five goals and seven assists in the tournament’s opening round and another pair of assists on Sunday, Rink Eye’s Quinton Byfield was named the 2002 Division’s All-Tournament Most Valuable Player.
