Sep 29, 2014 | KHetz | 2282 views
Atom AA Wins Gold at Capital Gold Rush Tournament
The Atom AA team won their first tournament of the year in Ottawa this weekend, taking gold in the inaugural Capital Gold Rush tournament.
During round robin play, the team went 3 and 1, resulting in a first place ranking, then went on to beat the local favorite, Ottawa Valley Silver Seven, by a score of 5 - 3 to become tournament champions!
Congratulations to the players and the coaching staff on your first tournament win and a great start to the season!
The team got off to a great start on Friday, winning both games by defeating the Cumberland Jr. Grads 4 -1 and the Ajax Knights 5 -2. The road to gold was not without its bumps, however, as the team lost their first game on Saturday to the host Glouchester Rangers 6 - 2. The team now found themselves in a must-win situation as nothing but a win would get them to the final on Sunday. Facing possible elimination against the heavily favoured Ottawa Valley Silver Seven, the team showed true Wildcat determination - winning their final game 4 -1 - and securing their place in the Sunday finale.
The final on Sunday was all that it should be with Whitby playing a rematch with the Ottawa Valley Silver Seven who had their sights set on revenge. Ottawa was the first on the board, making it 1 - 0 at the end of the 1rst. Both teams were determined and stepped up their game, but Ottawa was still up one at the end of the 2nd by a score of 3 - 2. Whitby had not come to Ottawa to walk away with anything but the win though, and with 6 minutes left in the 3rd, tied up the game. Both teams battled hard but Whitby was relentless, scoring to take the lead 4 -3 with just over 2 minutes remaining. With the clock running down, Ottawa pulled their goalie and applied tremendous pressure - now one man up. Whitby played their hearts out in those final minutes to stop the barrage. Then, with 34 seconds left on the clock, they were able to get the puck past Ottawa's defense and into an empty net - Whitby had secured the gold!
Congratulations to all the players and coaching staff on a great start to the hockey season!
Coaching staff (from left to right) : Scott McLean, Dan Player, Dave Gray (HC), Sean Grace, Troy Wight
Players (from left to right) : Goaltenders Scott Rodrigue and Carter Bickle (First row) Connor Cowan, William Nicholls, Owen Wight, Finn Grace, Blake Peters-Davey, Michael Barry, Cole Player (Second Row) Jake McLean, Colton Jones, Gabriel Sorichetti, Greg LaChance, Leyden Gray, Ben Kromer, William Moore.