The Havre Syntech PeeWee Ice Hawks team traveled to Butte last Friday through Sunday and finished fourth out of seven teams.
The Havre team faced an immediate disadvantage, being the smallest team at the tournament with only 11 players.
The Ice Hawks faced the Butte Blues on Friday in the first of four games they played. The Blues won 2-1 in a close game. Tyler Boyce scored the lone Havre goal with 1:48 remaining in the first period, assisted by Troy Williams and Michael Morelli. Butte followed with its first goal 36 seconds later. The first period ended in a 1-1 tie.
The Blues scored their second goal in the third period.
Goalie David Zentmire had 27 saves on the game.
Having the rest of Friday off helped the Havre team, as they came out strong on Saturday, defeating Gillette TIC 3-2.
Tyler Boyce scored all three Havre goals, two assisted by Troy Williams and one was unassisted.
The first period ended in a scoreless tie. Boyce scored Havre's first goal at the 7:38 mark in the second period. Gillette responded with two goals, the second one coming on a Gillette power play. Gillette took a 2-1 lead at the end of the second period. But Havre came out ready in the third period as Boyce scored two more goals.
With nearly one minute left to play in the game, Gillette pulled its goalie in order to put an extra attacker on the ice. A Havre player was penalized for roughing with 39 seconds left in the game, but the Ice Hawks defense responded to hold off any late attempts Gillette had at a rally.
David Zentmire had 24 saves as goalie.
Another day of rest once again proved very successful as the Ice Hawks defeated Missoula 7-2 in their third game of the tournament at 7 a.m. Sunday.
Tyler Boyce got his second hat trick of the tournament, scoring three Havre goals. Boyce had one unassisted goal, one assisted by Todd Roe and one by Chase Hanson. Michael Morelli and Hanson combined for one goal and Morelli and Willy Schilling also combined for a goal. Havre's two other goals were both unassisted, one by Todd Roe and one by Matt Hartman.
Havre led 2-1 at the end of the first period and 4-1 at the end of the second.
Goalie David Zentmire has 13 saves on the game.
Havre's second game Sunday, and fourth overall, was a rematch with Gillette TIC, but this time Gillette won 3-2 in a close overtime game.
Tyler Boyce capped an outstanding weekend with two more goals. Michael Morelli and Todd Roe assisted Boyce's goals.
Havre scored first with 1:30 left in the first period. Gillette came back with a goal at the beginning of the second period to tie the game. Havre answered with their second goal with 6:30 left in the second, making the score 2-1 after two periods of play. Gillette added its second goal with six minutes remaining in regulation play. Regulation ended with a 2-2 tie, sending the game into an overtime shootout. Each team selected five shooters to take five individual breakaway shots. Havre scored the first overtime shot, but was unable to score any more and Gillette scored two for the win.
Havre was out shot during regulation 26-11.
David Zentmire had 24 saves in the last game of a busy weekend.
The PeeWee team is in Havre this weekend, facing Missoula at 5 p.m. Saturday and 9 a.m. Sunday. Both games will be played at the Havre Ice Dome.
