Dec 31, 2018 | Brett Giglio | 1956 views
Brampton Regional Silver Stick Champions!
The Novice A Blue Whitby Wildcats became Silver Stick Champions over 3 days in the Brampton Regional Silver Stick tournament. Rising to the occasion the Wildcats posted a 5 and 0 record on route to the tournament championship.
The Wildcats first game was against a formidable Vaughan Rangers Black team. Through a mostly even first period the Wildcats went up late in the frame on a blast by Austin Dearn and added a second 7 seconds into the second period on a Luke Field goal. The challengers from Vaughan added a tally to bring the score within 1 but the Wildcats imposed their will from there out and Field added two more in the second and third period goals from Brady Lynch and Warren Giglio for a dominant 6-2 victory and a 1-0 record in the tournament.
In game 2 the Wildcats faced their rivals from the Lakeshore league the Clarington Toros. In this highly anticipated matchup the Wildcats came out flying and opened the score midway through the first period on an Ethan Sawyer snipe. On this day the Toros had no answer for the Wildcats high flying offence and the floodgates opened for three more in the second frame with two off the stick of Field and one from Lynch. Another trio of goals in a roughly played third period by way of Kristian Nielsen, Sawyer and Lynch salted this one away. The final score was 7-0 and brought the Wildcats record to 2-0 on the tournament.
The following day the Wildcats faced a motivated Caledon team and didn't open the scoring until there was 9 seconds remaining in the first period for a 1-0 lead heading into the second frame courtesy of Brady Lynch. The Wildcats threw everything but the kitchen sink at the stout Caledon goaltender and were able to muster two more twine ticklers from Lynch and Nielsen in the second stanza and one more from Lynch in the third for a convincing 4-0 lead and 3-0 record on the tourney.
Lined up against the Waxers of Markham for their semi-final matchup on Friday afternoon the Wildcats again came out flying and ran into a hot goalie who held his team in over the first period to a 1-0 Wildcats lead courtesy of a Warren Giglio goal. The second frame brought more of the same Wildcats offensive assault to no avail. The Wildcats defence played their normal solid game allowing minimal offensive zone time to their opponents from Markham. The Wildcats solved the riddle that was the Markham goalie one more time 3 minutes into the third period with another Giglio marker. The Wildcats continued to stymie the offensive efforts of the Waxers in an economical 2-0 victory and a birth in the finals against their foes from Centre Wellington.
The tensions were high Saturday morning as the teams readied themselves during the pre-game National Anthem. The game started with the Wildcats owning the lions share of possession and offensive zone time while shutting down the Fusion's high flying top scorer who tallied 18 goals over the first 4 games of the tournament for his team. Early in the second the Fusion and their top scorer opened the scoring and putting the Wildcats on their heels for the first time in the tournament. True to the character of this team the Wildcats answered a mere 23 seconds later with a gritty goal from Aaron Laverty to bring the score level. The period continued with both teams doing their best to mount attacks in a high flying affair. With 59 seconds left in the period the Wildcats seized the lead when Ethan Sawyer struck for the eventual game and tournament winner. The Wildcats could taste the victory but not before a third period that saw the Fusion have several power play opportunities, including a 6 on 4 advantage with 13 seconds remaining, only to be bottled up by the Wildcats goaltender, defencemen and hard backchecking forwards. The Wildcats would not be denied on this day and shut down the potent Fusion offence for a 2-1 victory and tournament championship.
Every player rose to the occasion with excellent goaltending from the tandem of Liam Bakker and Dawson Jones stalwart defensive efforts from Anthony Demaio, Liam Kennedy, Quinn Sooklal, Kellan Hodgkinson and Luke Bradica and stellar play from the forward group of Aaron Laverty, Liam Steed, Brady Lynch, Warren Giglio, Luke Field, Austin Dearn, Kristian Nielsen and Douglas Gibson. The Wildcats are back in action for a league game against North Durham before they look to continue rolling at the Silver Stick Finals in Pelham from January 10th to 13th where they will welcome Westin Nash back into the mix.
GO WILDCATS!