GEORGIAN-BARRIE ROAR TO FALL FACEOFF TITLE

The Georgian-Barrie Grizzlies waited til February to book their ticket to the 2011 Challenge Cup.   Well, the wait is over for 2012.   The Grizzlies ran the table with four wins at the Orillia Fall Faceoff on November 18th to become the third team to qualify for the 2012 Challenge Cup in March.

Barrie started the tournament against Lakehead Orillia and overcome a slow start and some stellar netminding by the Lakehead tendy to emerge with a 6-0 victory.   Game two saw Barrie trail the Canadore Panthers by a 2-1 count going into the third, but a hat-trick by stand out Nick Leigh paced the Grizzlies to a 5-2 win.  Still, it was not enough to claim first in their pool as St. Lawrence Cornwall edged them on goal differential with wins over Lakehead and UOIT .  This set up a rematch of the 2010 Fall Faceoff final between Barrie and Conestoga. 

The Grizzlies took an early lead but the Condors potted two quick ones before Barrie responded to knot things at 2 after one period.  Barrie scored two quick goals in the second, then teams exchanged goals late in third, giving the Grizzlies the 5-3.   The other semi-final saw Trent upset SLC 6-2, setting up a showdown between Trent and Barrie.

In the final, Barrie started quickly and never trailed, going up 2-0 before surrendering a power play goal that was then negated by a penalty shot goal by Leigh.    Barrie added two more enroute to a 5-1 win - and the tournament title.

With the win, the Georgian-Barrie Grizzlies have punched a ticket to the 2012 Challenge Cup at Durham on March 22-23 along with the Fleming-Lindsay Auks and Fanshawe Falcons.