The third annual Bill Weber Memorial Alumni Hockey game was held Dec. 27, 2014 at the John Millar Civic Center. Players were split into four teams and played a double elimination tournament.
Team 1 team members were: Chase Brewer, Vernon Beasley, Matt Fithian, Ben Ward, Alex Donovan, Ian Pasquarelli, Sam Wright, Logan Holmes, Ian Gervais, Brandon Ward, Dave Wilson, Lowell Matthews and Ryan Bennett.
Team 2 played Kyle Stevens, Ben Tweedie, DJ McGary, Jimmy Fitzpatrick, Sharif Abouleish, Graig Hill, Nick Howe, Taylor Martin, Tyler Hutchinson and Mitch Hall.
Members of Team 3 were Malik Abouleish, Ryan Sylvia, Jared Tapley, Cody Briggs, Chris Austin, Chris Weber, Morgan Hall, Lucas Grant, Chris Bither, Alex Casillas and Matt Fitzpatrick.
And, Team 4 had Nic Joslyn, Ethan Nickerson, Damon Henderson, Cole McLaughlin, Sam Carter, Kam Lincoln, Jake Peabody, Sam Tweedie, Phil Sprague, Josh Bragan and Jordan Russell.
To start the event, Bill Weber’s grandson, Eli, son of Chris and Megan Weber, dropped the ceremonial first puck.
Game 1 started with Teams 1 and 2 playing, with Team 1 coasting to 7-2 victory. The Ward brothers controlled the scoring with four of the seven goals for Team 1, while Nick Howe found the back of the net twice for Team 2.
Game 2 found Team 3 sneaking out with a 1-0 win against Team 4. Morgan Hall netted the only goal, while Malik Abouleish earned the shutout.
In Game 3, Damon Henderson scored a late goal for Team 4, knocking Team 2 out of the tournament with a 2-1 victory.
Team 1 and team 3 faced off in game 4, which might have been the most exciting game of the day. The game ended in a 1-1 tie, but Team 1 outlasted Team 3 in a shootout with Brandon Ward scoring the winning goal.
In game 5 of the day, Team 4 earned a trip to the championship by beating Team 3, 2-0. Sam Carter and Josh Bragan scored for Team 4, while Nic Joslyn picked up the shutout.
In the championship game, Team 1 proved to be too much for Team 4, winning 5-1. Sam Tweedie scored the lone goal for Team 4. Logan Holmes scored twice for the winners while Chase Brewer played solid between the pipes.
A big shout out to Ken Eastham for being referee for the tournament, Andy Mooers for announcing, Toby Henderson for running the scoreboard, Serenna Fitzpatrick for running the SAMHA merchandise table and doing the 50/50 and also Haley Nickerson for helping this event take place.
“There were a lot of former players wanting to play this year. This was by far our biggest turnout yet with just under 50 players participating” said event organizer Chris Weber. “It was nice to see such a large number of players come back to play in Dad’s memory.”
