Hamilton Huskies Minor Bantam White Victorious at Best of Best Halton Hills Harvest Cup
This weekend saw the hard work and determination at practice pay off for
the team, going undefeated in the tournament and walking away with the Harvest
Cup title. This season saw a change of line up that welcomed six new players to
the ranks, several from the past season victorious Huskies Peewee Red that
captured the provincial title in Tier 2 last season.
The players have been working hard in their new lineup and started the season strong with a great win against the Kitchener Red team, but then fell the next day to the Burlington Bulldogs. The players and staff took that game as a learning moment; they dug in their skates and knew what needed to be done to rise above it. The practices were team work focused, with the goal of learning to trust your new line mates and moving the puck up the ice together. The hard work and focus paid off!
The tournament started out Friday with the Huskies facing the hometown Halton Hills Thunder. The Huskies came out on top, with a score of 5-0. Friday afternoon saw the Huskies face the Webster Cyclones out of New York, though the team came to the tournament missing three of their own due to illness and absence, you wouldn’t have known it on the ice. This team definitely posed its challenges to the Huskies, shots on net was much lower for both teams than we usually see and it was by far the fastest, hardest hitting game we’ve played so far. The score finished tied at zero! The players went home, got a good night sleep and came fresh for the game Saturday night against the provincial level 2nd place West London Hawks. The Huskies came out victorious using their hard hits and fast passes to dominate the game to a 2-0 finish, even under the watchful eye of the Webster Cyclones team and coach who returned to the arena to take in some Junior A action and settled in on viewing the Huskies game. After a very late finish on Saturday night, the team sought a good night’s sleep and planned for the long day ahead on Sunday. With the schedule and travel, it had the team playing a 1:15 game against Guelph Gryphons and then in the championship at 5:40pm. The Huskies again emerged victorious with a 4-2 finish against the Gryphons, though the team left feeling anything but satisfied. The families thought that some bonding was in order for both players and parents, so the parking lot became the scene for the next couple hours while we played the waiting game. Families bonded, food was had and the players left the lot looking even more the team we knew they were.
The final game had the Huskies up against the Webster Cyclones, but it was not to be a repeat of earlier games. The Huskies came out hard, bringing the scoreboard to life part way through the 1st. The team finally had the opponent’s attention, but Webster wasn’t going down easily. The Huskies finished the second period up 2 goals, with three goals scored in the period. Webster started the third period full of life and answered back with a goal of their own but just weren’t able to overtake the Huskies. The game finished with raw emotion on both sides and a score of 4-2 for the victorious Huskies.
A special mention to Webster Head Coach Tony Audi and his team, your sportsmanship was second to none. You were by far the best competition we’ve faced to date, but more importantly you guys play a good clean game of hockey, something very refreshing in this first year of checking that has seen ejections and penalty laden games across the board. Wishing you and the team a successful season ahead.