Congratulations to our Minor Bantam AE Clippers who took home the York Simcoe Championship trophy on Sunday night with a win against the Barrie Colts! The Clippers went into their game Sunday night with a 2-1 series lead, and finished off the best of 5 series with a 4 - 2 win!
With the desire to
win the championship on home ice, and after just witnessing the Novice Clippers
take home their OMHA title, our Minor Bantam boys came out on a mission! Barrie may have scored first but the Clippers
soon came back with two goals of their own.
First Clipper goal was scored by Casey Shankland and the second by
Miller Boothby. By late in the second period the score was tied 2-2 and it
remained that way until a couple minutes remained in the third period. The game was a nail bitter and it looked like
the teams were heading for overtime even though our offense had some great
chances, our defense stood strong and our goalie made some great saves! Then, with a ‘Tic-Tac-Toe’ set-up on the
power play Mark Rossi buried the game winning goal! With the score now 3-2 and Barrie pulled
their goalie in a last ditch effort to tie the game. Luckily for Stouffville Mitch Butler got a
hold of the puck deep in the Clippers zone and shot it down the ice earning a
beautiful empty net goal! Clipper goalie
Luke Spagnuolo earned a well deserved win.
This Championship win
was a great team effort and credit goes to ALL
the boys including Captain Tim Barker, Assistant Captains Miller Boothby and
Mitch Butler. Also, Simon Horner, Jordan
Kuettel, Rhys Barker, Luke Savage, Ryan Taylor, Ruien Lidster, Paul Assal,
Kevin O’Boyle, Mark Rossi, Josh Marshall, Tommy Paul, Anthony Rustico, Casey
Shankland, and goalies Ethan Rehel and Luke Spagnuolo.
As a group of
ecstatic boys and coaches gather on the ice we can look back over the season
and truly appreciate what it took to get to this moment of celebration. This team as it was rostered in tryouts did
not have its first complete game together until January, even then it only
lasted 7 minutes! Since September this
team has had 5 casted limbs, 3 concussions, multiple illness and even stitches
that kept different players out of the line-up at different times. To say that our coaches learned to juggle and
the boys learned to adapt to different line mates and positions is a credit to
everyone involved. I think we can truly say that the boys all learned how much
effort it takes to win a championship title.
Congratulations to
Head Coach Lio Spagnuolo and his assistants, Peter O’Boyle, Bill Butler and Rob
Taylor for the time and dedication to the team this year. Coaching is both a large commitment and a
privilege and this championship win is a tribute to all your effort. Of course none of this win or season, could
have been pulled off without the guidance of an exceptional team manager, Beth
Buchanan.
Congratulations Stouffville
Minor Bantam AE Clippers!
written by: Britt Spagnuolo