Jan 13, 2016 | MarkT | 934 views
BANTAM AE WINS SILVER STICK
The Bantam AE team took full advantage of the invite to the Silverstick Finals Tourney in Pelham, Ontario, bringing down the house on Sunday, Jan 10th in the finals with a convincing 5-0 win against the Huntsville Otters. The team was invited following a strong performance in the qualifiers backin December, taking silver and losing only one game in the finals to theBrampton 45's. Pumped up and ready to face a battery of toughcompetition, the Clippers split the four game round robin: game 1 loss toPelham (1-0); game 2 win against Colorado (5-2); game 3 loss to London(4-2) and a runaway win against a team who trekked here from California(11 - 0).
This set up the team for semi finals on Saturday, where the boys faced a team from Petrolia, Ont. Fuelled by inspiration and pride,the boys earned another shut-out win (3-0) locking up the home team spotfor the finals on Sunday.
The team play just got better and better through the six games, showing character and team spirit right through to the final buzzer. The team represented themselves, their town,and their Association proudly leaving with many memories that will last a lifetime.This was a truly special experience, having teams from far and wide travelto participate. The opening ceremonies celebrated the history of the Silverstick, which is grounded in building international, cross borderhockey communities. All teams exchanged pins during the ceremonies, but nopin has more meaning than the sterling silver champion Silverstick pineach of our Bantam teammates and coaches earned this weekend.Congrats Clippers and Coaches!Corrado Messina (head coach), Craig Macinnis (asst coach), Pete Hary (asstcoach), Brian Arnold (trainer), Mark Turney (manager)Goalies:Juan Rivera (00) (G); Sam Luff (34) (G)Forwards:Liam Macinnis (10); Nick Olidis (11); Ryan Cusack (12); Robert Hume (16);Michael Hary (17); Andrew Levesque (18); Mathieu Kovac (42); MichaelMessina (81); Mark Assal (97);Defense:Jack Valleau (4); Tim Arnold (19); Jordan Lewis (27); Sam Roy (65); NathanTratnik (67); Jacob Turney (71)