The Mooretown Junior Flags, U13 Rep team went into Collingwood for the first tournament of the season - the “A” level Huronia Tourney. They returned champions with the gold medals to prove it. They dominated their division and finished undefeated with a double overtime and shoot out win on Sunday’s championship game.
The U13 Rep team began with a decisive victory vs. Garden City “A” from St. Catherines on Friday. They blasted 4 goals to 0. Big time shutout, big time effort. The second game on Friday was the night cap vs the host Collingwood Blues team. Collingwood showed speed and skill, however the U13 Flags matched the intensity coming out with a 2-0 shut out for Mooretown.
Saturday was an opportunity to enjoy another doubleheader of hockey. The afternoon contest began with the Flags extinguishing Mississauga’s Heartland “A” Dragons with a 4-0 victory. The evening brought a semi-final rematch vs Garden City. It was like deja vu. Mooretown skated into the final with a 4-0 win, the 4th consecutive shutout for net minder Liam Lahey.
Sunday’s final game was EPIC! The U13 Rep team took on host Collingwood. The U13 Rep team were down 1-0 for most of the game. With 1 minute to go and the score still in Collingwood’s favour 1-0, the net was emptied. The extra attacker for Mooretown entered the ice. Mooretown played powerful down low and with 14 seconds left in regulation, they scored the equalizer. Mooretown 1 - Collingwood 1. The first overtime with 5 on 5 hockey settled nothing. The second overtime also settled nothing. It remained 1-1 with the first 3 shootout attempts. Sudden death shootouts began with the fourth skater, nothing. The fifth skater for Mooretown heard the coaches say one thing: hard shot. With that the puck sailed past the Collingwood tender and went bar down. Mooretown didn’t flinch. Mooretown trusted each other. Mooretown has the medals to prove it. The fall leaves on the escaprment were beautiful red, but the medals were golden.
The team was treated to their first tourney since the pandemic began like chomping on a chocolate bar treat. Liam guarded the twine and kept the scoreboard at ‘bubbly nothings’ like an Aero bar. Ewan and Klarke played 2 way hockey in the offensive and defensive zones leaving opposing players needing to ’take a break, have a KitKat’. Oden, Graeme, Cole and Chase played solid D and starved the other team from scoring with a snicker, proving ‘you’re not you when you’re hungry’. Drew & Josh, Ryan & Cohen, and Tucker & Kale were excellent partners who challenged opponents and made plays to set each other up like Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups - ‘two great tastes that taste great together’.
The Flags were guided by their head coach, Ian Snedden, and the staff of Adam Teschke, Aaron Ticknor, Shawn Lajoie, and Mike McLaughlin kept coaching the boys hungry the whole weekend, but might celebrate with with an Oh Henry - ‘oh hungry? Oh Henry!’
