The Barrie Colts PeeWee AA team came to play in a tough Show Your AA Game tournament in Pickering last weekend. With tough competition from some of the top-ranked AA teams from the GTHL and OMHA, Head Coach Jeremy Brown was pleased with the team’s effort by never trailing in any of the six games they played, except for 5 minutes in game two.
The first game was played against the Mississauga Terriers. It was very close until centre Aiden Young took the game into his own hands and scored the only goal. Jayden Short was very solid between the pipes, earning the shutout.
Game two saw your Colts face-off against the Oshawa Generals. Barrie seemed surprised when the Generals came out with lots of energy and grit. This game was back and forth, and it ended in a 3-3 tie.
Injured goalie, Riley Arts, made his return for game three when the Colts tied the highly-ranked Gloucester Rangers. Riley made some great saves in this game as Barrie only managed one goal and earned the tie.
Barrie needed to win game 4 in order to secure a spot in the semi-finals on Sunday. The Seaway Valley Rapids played very well, but Barrie eventually prevailed with a 2-0 win.
In a rematch of game 2, the semi-final game saw the Colts face the Oshawa Generals, who celebrated like they won the round-robin game, even though it was a tie. There was never any doubt in this one as Barrie dominated all three periods to earn the 4-0 win, with ‘Shorty’ earning his second shutout of the tournament.
The tournament final was a rematch against the strong Mississauga Terriers team. This group was a mix of very small players with three or four huge kids! Riley Arts was once again huge in net, making several key saves to keep his team in the game. In the second period, forwards Harry Muxlow and Jaden Richardson set up left winger, Rhyse Brown, as he scored the tournament-winning goal and Barrie won the final 1-0.
Coach Chris Palbiski was very pleased that the boys showed true character by digging deep and winning a championship against some very strong opposition. Everyone contributed to the tournament win, showing great discipline (at times) and lots of hard work. Hunter Martell, Nolan Drury and Lucas Texmo were particularly solid on the back end, but Coach Brown was particularly pleased with the four shutouts, and the fact that the team only gave up 4 goals in 6 games.
The PeeWee Colts will be participating in the Coach4Food Drive to give back to our community. They will be collecting non-perishable food donations at their home games on November 29 and December 2 at the Holly Recreation Centre, December 6 at the Barrie Molson Centre, and December 10 at East Bayfield. The team will help Richmond Hill in November by participating in their Fill The Coaches’ Van in support of their local food bank.
Barrie looks forward to participating in the Christmas Cheer program in December.
Story by John Richardson