Bantam BB's Capture W.O.A.A. Championship!!
The Saugeen
Shores Bantam BB Storm captured the W.O.A.A.
Bantam Championship over the weekend with two impressive wins over the Wingham
Ironman.
The Bantam BB's decisively won three straight games in the best of five final Championship series. The Storm had a strong playoff run with an impressive 8-1-0 record against Walkerton, TCDMHA, Bruce Peninsula and Wingham.
The Bantams regular season was a rollercoaster full of ups and downs both physically and mentally but they were able to come together during W.O.A.A. playoffs with a great team effort. The games were filled with aggressive fore-checking, solid defense and outstanding goaltending.
W.O.A.A. Championship Series:
The Storm travelled to Wingham Thursday night to start the Championship series. Both teams seem to struggle to find their groove but it would be the Wingham getting on the scoreboard first less than 3 minutes into the game but the Storm was able to tie things up before the end of the first. Colton Heipel finding the back of the twine with the assist going to Paul Leger. Despite being out-played in the first half of the game, the Storm’s Emma Vanhaelemeesch, Griffin Williamson and Cody Flett did get some quality scoring chances but the Ironman goalie would deny them. A scrabble in front of the net resulted in Murray Martin jamming the puck under the goalie’s pad. The assists would go to Trevor Donaldson and Heipel. The Storm would exchange goals early in third with Donaldson scoring first off from a nice feed from Thomas Macdonald. The Ironman elevated their game in the third and had the Storm on their heels. Wingham would capitalize on the man advantage and score a power play goal to close within one. The Bantams picked up their game to defend their lead with the defense blocking shots and keeping the Ironman to the outside. MacDonald would once again set up his line mate Nick Sutter-Lammie for the insurance goal to make the final score 4-2.
The second game of the series was on Saturday night on home ice. With only ten skaters, the Bantams dug deep and played one of their best games of the season. There were many highlight reel moments and showed a real commitment to a team effort from the drop of the puck. The Storm dominated the play with aggressive fore-checking, strong defense and outstanding goaltending. Trevor Donaldson would find the back of the net first with assists going to Thomas MacDonald and Nick Sutter-Lammie. The Storm continued their dominate play in the second and the result was three more goals; Colton Heipel (2) and Sutter-Lammie with Murray Martin, Colton McNabb, MacDonald and Donaldson assisting. Great cycling and passing was rewarded two minutes into the third when McNabb and Donaldson would set up Martin to make the game 5-0. Heipel would complete his hat trick from a nice feed by Martin in the slot two minutes later. MacDonald would slide the puck to Sutter Lammie to finish the scoring. The Storm would finish the third period strong by taking complete control of the momentum of the game. The defense team of Eric Charlebois, Kenneth Bollen, Wesley Johnson and Kelly Cobean played a very disciplined game and helped to reserve the shut out for the Storm net-minder Jack Flarity.
Game Three returned to Wingham Sunday night. Sutter Lammie would score the first two goals of the game with the help of great teamwork of line mates MacDonald and Donaldson. The Ironman would take advantage of a miscue, answering with a goal late in the second. The Storm’s Captain Eric Charlebois, would notch the third goal with assists going to Murray Martin and Kelly Cobean. Seconds later, Martin would set up Paul Leger at the point who fired one top shelf to make the score 4-1. The Ironman opened the third with a marker but the defense would once again shut the Ironman down. Heipel and Martin would combine for two more goals late in third. The Storm would win the game 6-2 and the W.O.A.A. Bantam Championship!!
The coaching staff has enjoyed working with this great group of players and is very proud of all the players for their terrific effort during this season. This team played great and worked hard all year, every player has improved and the team play all year just kept getting better. Each player has improved both individually and as part of a team.
The Saugeen Shores Bantam BB’s would like to thank their sponsors Martin's Bicycle Shop and Martin’s Home Hardware for their continued support of Saugeen Shores Minor Hockey, the executive of SSMHA for their ongoing support, and to the parents, fans, siblings, grandparents and friends for the encouraging support they gave the team. All this support did not go un-noticed by the entire team.
We would like to thank the coaches and staff for their time & effort that they have put into making this an enjoyable hockey experience.
Link to the WOAA Awards Ceremony:
http://youtu.be/jB9QJqgX2rc
GO STORM GO!!