The Minor Bantam A team won the CAN/AM Montreal Youth
Challenge Cup this past weekend with a very convincing 5-0 record!
The 06’ team was placed in a combined 05/06 age category and went 4-0 in round robin play, outscoring
their opponents 28 – 3, including two shut-outs.
In the finals, the team jumped out to an early 3-1 lead. But 3 goals in 40 seconds was all the boys needed to finish off the game
and take gold, with a final score of 7-1.
This is the first ever tournament win for the 2006 A team. The
coaching staff couldn’t be happier with the energy level and execution of the
team’s game plan this weekend.
A 13-year-old's dream hockey tournament.
It quickly came upon us that our Away tournament to Montreal was finally here. On Thursday, November 14th the Newmarket Redmen Minor Bantam A Team boarded the bus and headed straight for Montreal. Excited, energetic and optimistic for the tournament, the boys settled in (with their surprise red tournament hoodies - thanks to Craig Scott & AKRAN Marketing!!) and we headed east. Special thanks also to Dickies No Frills -- we feasted on specialty sub sandwiches for a healthy dinner on the road. And there was plenty great commentary by our onboard entertainment supervisor Logan!
Soon enough we were playing our first game against the Meadowvale Hawks, on Friday morning. The team gelled well on the road - and we won that game 6-2.
Game #2 on Friday evening also went in our favour with a slick 6-1 win over Granite State Wild (New Hampshire).
A great start with lots of reason to have some fun at our team dinner Friday evening! Even the Habs won their game, as we watched from the restaurant.
The team had an extremely early start Saturday morning, with an 8-am game. The boys looked a little sleepy but our Coaching Staff warmed them up and they earned win number three, against Leaside.
Our final round-robin game was upon us Saturday at noon. Playing a team we thought would be good competition for us, our boys really showed this team that solid tape-to-tape passing, cycling the puck and owning the boards is what it takes to win a game. And that is what we achieved against the Triboro Titans (Maine).
The Habs game on Saturday night was certainly a well deserved treat, but Sunday’s final game was on the minds of many. The opposing team was largely made of (larger) bantam boys, but our Redmen held strong for the tournament win. A commanding 6-1 victory put the Redmen on top. GOLD it was!!
And with trophies & medals loaded on our bus, as our itinerary joked, we headed back home to Newmarket.
This team went to Montreal together, stayed together, played together and won together. And let’s just say ... there was plenty of rock ‘n’ roll singing together on the way home too.
