11-12 Bantam Rep - International SilverStick Champs!!!
Blyth Brussels Bantam Rep team won the 22nd Annual North American International SilverStick in Forest this past weekend. The team earned the chance to participate after winning the Bantam “C” Regional SilverStick title in Kincardine between Christmas and New Years.
The caliber of teams made the road to the finals a tough path. The team was 2-1 in round robin play. On Friday the team put up a 4-2 win against Shelburne, only to have Saturday morning bring them their first (regulation time) loss (6-2) of the season against a tough team from Ilderton. The team fought back with a 2-0 win late Saturday against Wayne, New Jersey.
The record was good enough to give them a birth in an early semi-final game Sunday morning against East Lambton. The early time seemed to catch our boys flat in the opening minutes of the first period. Once the boys found their legs they were able to find the back of the net to post a 5-2 lead late into the second period. An exciting third period with a great amount of persistence paid off and the boys squeaked out a 6-5 thriller to earn the right to head to the finals on Sunday afternoon against the tough squad from Ilderton. Goals scored by Dustin Pennington from Reece McArter, Wyatt Ducharme from Trent Michie and Quinton Sjaarda, Wyatt Ducharme from Hayden Ten Pas, Wyatt Ducharme from Hayden Ten Pas, Josh Van Soest from Wyatt Ducharme and Arden Coultes, Arden Coultes from Luke McCutcheon. A great game in goal by Dalton Carey, earning the win!
Weather didn’t hold back fans from travelling from the Blyth Brussels area to see the boys in the exciting final game. Blyth Brussels put up the first goal of the game (Trent Michie from Dustin Pennington), only to have the Ilderton team put in a power play goal for the 1-1 tie. Another power play goal found the Ilderton team up 2-1. Blyth Brussels fought back to tie the game 2-2 (Jordan Hubbard from Dustin Pennington) going into the third. The boys stayed strong throughout the third period which resulted in the 3-2 (Wyatt Ducharme from Quinton Sjaarda) lead late into the third. With less than a minute to play Blyth Brussels took a penalty and Ilderton pulled their goaltender. Tight fore checking and a few key icings kept Ilderton from capitalizing on their 6-4 man advantage and gave the boys the win. Matt McNichol held strong in the net for us!
Matt McNichol, Hayden Ten Pas, and Dustin Pennington were voted to the All-Star Team. The team play of the boys along with the outstanding support of coaching staff, family, friends and Facebook cheers have given the BlythbBrussels Bantam Rep team a “silver lined” moment they will cherish the rest of their lives.
The North American International SilverStick Banner presentation will take place in Brussels Arena on Wednesday, Feburary 1st , prior to their 9 pm game (2nd round of playoffs – Blyth Brussels Bantam Rep vs Bruce Peninsula Northstars Game 1).
