OMHA Champs: U13 Road to the Red Hats - Completing the Journey
In 2020 a Mooretown Rep team qualified for the OMHA finals, but the truck stalled as COVID came and the dream had to wait.
Two years later many of those same players were part of the 2022 U13 Mooretown team that qualified for the OMHA championship tournament to restart their engines and finish the journey on the Road to the 2022 Red Hats!
Mooretown was undefeated in round robin, won the quarterfinal and semifinals before winning the championship in a rematch from International Silverstick 2 years ago in the final vs. Penetang.
The U13 Rep team began Friday with a victory 4-1 vs BB Napanee. The Flags revved their engines and Napanee was left with fumes and just their 3rd loss of the season. This was followed up by a 6-0 win that evening vs BB Greater Fort Erie. They were a speed bump to Fort Erie who had only lost only 2 games all year. The Flags, after day 1 was sitting in the pits leading their group.
Saturday started with fuelling up for a game vs. Aurora. The Aurora team, unbeaten in their regular season, were handed a 9-0 loss as Mooretown played the role of sheriff handing out traffic tickets to hot shot city teams. The quarter finals brought a test against Tecumseh. Like the Mufflerman, the Flags silenced this team from the Windsor area to book their appointment in the semifinals on Sunday morning against a familiar foe.
Sunday was a chance to make memories with some familiar foes that had been destinations on previous journeys. The semi final game renewed the competition between Kincardine, who had been slated to compete against Mooretown in 2020 before the COVID shut down. The rematch was a classic like the Ford Mustang vs the Chevy Camaro. After being down a goal, they cleaned out the carb, and scored 2 quick goals in the 3rd to rocket into the finals for a chance to win an Ontario championship.
The championship game on Sunday was a rematch of International Silverstick two years earlier. Mooretown’s U13 squad took on Pentang as the roar of the local Pentang crowd was matched and surpassed by the Mooretown engine on offence and defence. The Flags showed the precision of a high powered Lamborgini. Mooretown, supported by stellar goaltending, opened up a 2 goal lead which they re-established after Pentang has closed the gap to 1. When the clock struck 0, the final kilometre had been completed from the journey that began in 2020. The undisputed, and reigning U13 champs are the Mooretown Jr. Flags.
The team embraced the weekend of hard work like mechanics at a garage with grease under their fingernails. Liam was a tendy of the twine and levelled out any bumps like new shocks on an ole Chevy. Klarke and Ewan rotated their tires, centered the teams alignment, and made sure that they were pumped up to create pressure on the other team. Drew, Ryan, Josh, Cohen, Tucker & Kale shifted smoothly into forward, reverse, and even 4 wheel drive. They provided fire like fresh sparkplugs. Oden, Chase, Cole, and Graeme hammered out any dents in the smooth finish of the Mooretown master piece. The other teams, like a K-car or a Hyundai Pony never stood a chance to stand the test of time vs the U13 Mooretown Flags.
The Flags were engineered by their head coach, Ian Snedden, and the staff of Adam Teschke, Aaron Ticknor, Shawn Lajoie, Mike McLaughlin and Ben Hazzard who kept coaching to make sure that every player had their chance to shine like red Ferraris with their newly earned Red Hats.