With well earned championship medals and banner grasped in their hands,
their proud coaching staff of Head Coach Jim O’Brien, Assistant Coach Zac
Clark, Trainers James O’Brien & Brodie Merrit, and temporary number one fan
of injured player Ezra Penney, the U12A Cambridge Hawks relished in the joy of
winning their battle against the Markham Islanders to capture a 3-1 victory and
claim the 2024 Orangeville Fall Classic title.
Over the previous 2 days, the Hawks’ round robin play included a 6-1 win
over the tournament host Orangeville Flyers, a 7-1 win over the Brampton 45s,
and a 4-2 win over the Guelph Gryphons. The three wins then had them slotted in
1st place overall in the U12 division with an impressive 17 goals
for, and a paltry 4 goals against.
Champion’s Day Sunday, started with a rematch against the Orangeville
Flyers in the semi-finals.
The Hawks would get on the scoresheet first, 4 minutes into the game, with
a tape-to-tape pass from Henry Greig in the corner to Lincoln Hartwell in the
slot who made no mistake firing the puck in. Orangeville tied it up 2 minutes
later, but that stalemate wouldn’t last long as Munro Halliday, fresh off a
line change, came flying in just past the blue line to pickup a Nolin Follings
backhand feed and fired a wrist shot top cheese over the blocker of the
netminder.
Hudson Smith would then make it a 3-1 lead after Lucas Baxter’s tenacious
puck pressure forced the Flyers centremen to send a puck up the middle where
Nathan Costa broke up a pass and Carter Lecki checked his assignment in the
neutral zone which allowed Smith to strip the Flyers player of the puck, dart
into the zone, and shoot it top corner to beat the goalie’s glove hand.
Cale Nicholson then added some insurance as he pounced on a loose puck for
a goal….but unfortunately, that insurance policy would expire a short time
later as the Flyers capitalized on a breakaway goal near the end of the 2nd
and again with a perfectly placed wrist shot to tie the game 4-4 halfway
through the 3rd period.
A flurry of back and forth play then followed for the next several minutes
with Kieran Patel and the Flyers’ goalie both holding their ground in net.
As time ticked away, murmurs between parents could be overheard throughout
the arena as they contemplated the tournament’s overtime rules….but ultimately,
OT would not to be required. Down to the final 30 seconds of regulation, and
with the Flyers having possession in the Hawks’ zone, Caiden Rose rushed the
Flyers defender, chipped the puck loose and sped down the ice on a breakaway,
only to be denied by the goalie’s blocker. However, the Hawks maintained
pressure in the offensive zone and as Smith dashed in for wing support, his
perfectly placed stick check forced the puck to squirt out to Follings who made
no mistake with an inside out move on the Flyers defender and buried the
thrilling go ahead marker with a mere 11 seconds left on the clock. Hawks win,
and to the finals they flew!
The tournament finals then had the Hawks facing off against a new
opponent, the Markham Islanders, who entered the contest with an impressive
3-0-1 record including a 5-2 win over the Guelph Gryphons in their semi-final
earlier that day.
The scoring would start quickly, only 25 seconds into the game, as #93 of
the Islanders picked up the puck in his own zone, gathered speed quickly and
split the Hawks D in the neutral zone to gain a brief breakaway before placing
a perfect blast low blocker to beat the Hawks Goalie. However, that tally would
prove to be the last for the Islanders as Connor Bithell stonewalled each attempt
thereafter.
The first period closed with the same score of 0-1, but fortunes would
change for the Hawks in the 2nd period as their hard work paid off
with a pair of goals. The first being a goal by Rose as he slipped around a
defender, dashed into the zone, and ripped a backhand top shelf to tie up the
game. The go-ahead goal, and eventual game winner, would then be buried by
Rylan Prilisauer, after he gathered a faceoff scramble to pass the puck to the
waiting point man, Elliot Cofell, whose blast towards the net struck a defender
and produced the rebound for Prilisauer to capitalize on.
Intense play was traded in each zone for the rest of the 2nd
and most of the 3rd period including some defensive highlights by
Jacob Pimentel’s soccer style kicks and stick checks of loose pucks and Arlo
MacDonald’s relentless pressure of forechecking Islanders as the Hawks held
their 1 goal lead. Nicholson would then provide the Hawks with an insurance
marker with 4 minutes left to play as he batted in the puck from the top of the
crease to convert Follings’ lob pass from the corner. The Hawks then held firm
against the surging Islanders for the rest of the game, including a
short-handed stint while they had their goalie pulled, to close out the game
with a 3-1 victory and claim the title of the 2024 Orangeville Fall
Classic.