Dec 31, 2017 | jfairbairn | 3015 views
Atom AA Silverstick Champs!
Sure red, green and white remind us of the Christmas holidays, but the Barrie Atom AA team will remember this year by the colours gold and silver! Congratulations to the team once again for bringing home the gold medal at the Brampton Regional Silverstick Tournament this past week.
The Colts started Wednesday morning bright and early with an 8:00 am match against their tournament rivals, the Streetsville Tigers. The Colts have been back and forth with the Tigers, meeting them in two previous tournaments and splitting victories. This time the Colts took advantage of any opportunity they could against the Tigers' strong offensive attack and were helped with a hat trick from Forward Ryan Fairbairn and a superstar performance by our goalie Eric Capling, shutting out the Tigers 3-0.
The afternoon game pitted the Colts against the feisty Waterloo Wolves. Although the Colts came alive and started to dominate play, they could only manage a 1-1 tie, with the lone goal coming from Trent McManemy and outstanding goal tending from the Colts' Liam Farrell.
Thursday Morning, the Colts faced Halton Hills Thunder with a massive defensive attack as it was raining bombs from the point. The Colts Defence were shooting hard and often and their shots made it in the back of the net 3 times as goals were scored by defencemen Shea Crewson with one, and a pair for Nick Gage after being set up with sweet passes coming from Colton Morris, Zach Holeschek, Grayson Medvie-Racine and Aiden Morrison, beating the Thunder 3-2.
The semi final brought forth the West Hill Goldenhawks from Toronto. With the odds stack against the Colts late in the third period and down 2-0, the Colts were desperately looking for a spark. Finally, with four minutes left, forwards Justin Tunney and Jace Schaly linked up as Schaly buried the Colts' first goal and awoke the sleeping giant within the team. With two minutes left defenceman Colton Morris ripped a shot from the point that was deflected in from Ryan Fairbairn. And finally, with the reality of a possible overtime period drawing near, with one minute left Jace Schaly put in a rebound off a shot from Cameron Bye to steal the win from the Goldenhawks 3-2 and move on to the final.
In the Friday Final, the Colts met the Guelph Gryphons. In the beginning it was a back and forth game, but the Colts began to wear down the Gryphons, with fast feet and quick puck movement. Leading the charge were Colts' speed demons Luke Cameron, Riley Sorokan and Liam Surka, as the three of them buzzed around the ice with a relentless work ethic, frustrating the Guelph team. Hunter Bricknell, fresh off the beaches of Jamaica, made his presence felt with an outstanding defensive game, earning the game's second star. The Colts experienced their own frustration, running in to the hottest goalie they had faced in the tournament and realized if they were to win they were going to have to get the puck past what seemed to be an unforgiving glove hand.
After regulation time the score was 1-1, with the lone goal coming from Trent McManemy. With the start of a 10 minute sudden death overtime period, the Colts continued to pressure the Gryphons and finally with 5 minutes left before a shootout would occur, Jace Schaly popped the game winner to advance the Colts to the International Silverstick Final in Sarnia on Jan 12.
It can truly be stated, this win was a complete team effort. Every defenceman, forward and both of our talented goalies utilized their incredible skill, tapped into another level of determination and grit, and executed the system that has been relentlessly coached into them by Head Coach Dan Schaly. The coaching team is incredibly proud of their "never say die" attitude and hope the kids will remember their golden finale of 2017.