The Ansell’s Awards & Specialties Minor Peewee A Stars
are the 2019-2020 International Silver Stick Owen Sound Regional Champions.
The Minor Peewee’s travelled to Owen Sound to compete against some of the best teams in the Province for the right to represent St. Thomas at the upcoming International Finals.
The Stars started out their quest with a convincing 13-0 win over the Ajax Knights. The Stars spread the offense around with 6 different scorers.
Their second game of the day, against a tough New Hamburg Huskies team, was a much closer affair. It was a tight game, being tied 1-1 until late in the second, with the Stars adding an insurance goal late in the third to win 3-1.
Their final round-robin game on Saturday pitted the Stars against the Aurora Tigers. The Stars came out flying scoring 3 goals in the first, and never looked back, taking the game 8-0. Another balanced scoring attack with 7 different forwards scoring.
By finishing the round-robin portion of the tournament with a perfect 3-0 record, the Stars received a bye to the semi-final on Sunday morning, where they faced a formidable foe in the Centre Wellington Fusion. After jumping out to a 3-0 lead early in the 2nd period, the Fusion battled hard to get back in the game scoring shortly after the Stars. However, the Stars went back up by 2 mid-way through the middle frame, and scored another insurance goal late in the 3rd into an empty net.
That set up a muchly anticipated final between the Stars, and the home-town Owen Sound Jr. Attack. The Attack were looking to avenge a late-game collapse against the Stars in last year’s Boston Pizza Cup in St. Thomas, which saw the Stars erase a 4 goal deficit late in the 3rd period to take the championship.
In the Regional Silver Stick final, the Stars jumped out to a quick lead, scoring on a penalty shot 15 seconds into the game. The Attack tied it up 2 minutes later, proving these 2 teams were going to battle it out to the end. The Stars took back the lead with a goal late in the first period, and went to the intermission up 2-1. The Attack scored early in the second to tie the game up, but the Stars proved too much on this day. The Stars scored 2 more times in the second period, and never looked back. Owen Sound tried to mount a comeback late in the 3rd with a goal with 5 minutes left, but the Stars put it away with a late empty-netter, making the final 5-3 for the Stars.
The big win this weekend sets up a trip to Newmarket from January 9-12, 2020 for the International Silver Stick Finals, where the Stars will be up against some of the best 2008 born kids from across North America.
The coaching staff and parents could not be more proud of these boys. They battled illness and injury all weekend, and came together as a team to get the job done. When we follow the team motto, “We Before Me”, anything is possible. GO STARS GO!!!