There are a few things that are guarantees as winter approaches: the magic of Regional Silverstick and classic holiday movies. The Mooretown Junior Flags, U13 Rep team entered the Roy Caley (Watford) U13 Regional Silverstick hoping to make their own classic moment. Mooretown was undefeated in round robin, won the quarterfinal and semifinals before winning the championship in a rematch from 2 years ago in the final vs. South Huron.
The U13 Rep team began Thursday with a close victory 2-1 vs Ilderton. Steady resolve made sure that Ilderton Didn’t Steal Christmas like the Grinch. This was followed up by a 12-1 win that afternoon against Petrolia to be awarded the number one seed in the U13 B division. Just like Frosty the Snowman they challenged other teams to ‘catch me if you can’.
Saturday was the quarterfinal game vs. Ingersol. The Flags dimmed the lights on Ingersol's tourney to Jingle All The Way to a 7-0 shutout victory. This set up a semifinal rematch vs. Ilderton. Mooretown skated to a 7-0 victory which, similar to A Charlie Brown Christmas, taught everyone the real meaning of Silverstick.
The championship game on Sunday was a rematch of a regional Silverstick two years earlier. Mooretown’s U13 squad took on South Huron. With an attitude reminicent of ELF, ‘I like winning, winning is my favourite’, the Flags skated to a 2-0 victory leaving little doubt. They collected the banner to raise into the rafters at the Mooretown Sports Complex as 'thebest way to spread Silverstick cheer is to raise a banner for all to hear', err…. see, you get the drift.
The team embraced the weekend of the magic of Silverstick. Liam was a scrooge to the snipers and sealed the crease often remarking, ‘bah humbug, I don’t believe you can score’. Ryan & Cohen, Tucker & Kale, and Drew & Josh made sure the forecheck and backcheck was fierce creating ‘The Nightmare Before Christmas’ for the opposing defence and forwards. Klarke and Ewan skated with determination like ‘The Polar Express’ and made sure that everyone believed in the commitment to hard work and playing as a team. Cole, Graeme, Oden, and Chase kept our goalie as lonely as Kevin in Home Alone by pressuring the puck, passing, and occasionally commenting that the other team could ‘keep the change, ya filthy animal’ after taking the puck away.
The Flags were guided by their head coach, Ian Snedden, and the staff of Adam Teschke, Aaron Ticknor, Shawn Lajoie, and Mike McLaughlin who kept their astute coaching focused and made sure that the players had ‘A Wonderful Life’ and with every goal, an angel got it’s wings.
