U11 B Take Home Flamborough Year End Showcase Tournament Title, News, U7 - Initiation (Mite) - Tim Hortons, Under-7 (Penetang Minor Hockey Association)

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Organization | Apr 03, 2023 | cfraser | 6150 views
U11 B Take Home Flamborough Year End Showcase Tournament Title
Congratulations to the U11 B Tom Smith Flames team on winning the 50th Anniversary Year End Showcase Tournament in Flamborough this past weekend.

This group of young individuals really came together and proved that their team motto really works. HWPO. Hard Work Pays Off.

Although they struggled going into the OMHA playoffs and narrowly missed on moving on to the semi finals of the OMHA regionals, they all stuck to the plan. They dominated play in the last 3 games of the OMHA playoffs with a smothering forecheck and relentless backcheck. They continued this play in the 4 exhibition games leading up to the past weekend's tournament. They came up short in a loss to the Collingwood Blues U11A team but once again dominated play and proved that they can skate with any U11 team in Ontario.

The team kicked off the tournament with a 4-1 win over the Guelph Gryphons. Good puck movement, paired with a great backcheck and a couple key saves was the key to this win. Game two was on Saturday morning vs the Caledon Hawks. The team showed off their smothering forecheck and puck possession skills once again and controlled play from the opening puck drop. They were able to come out with a 3-1 win. Game three was against the Halton Hills Thunder.  The team came out flying and never let up until the final horn sounded. All three forward lines kept the thunder hemmed in their own zone. Amazing passing, speed, heads up play had the Thunder chasing the puck for the entire game. We lost count on shots on goal for the flames as they skated to a 8-1 victory and a trip to the semi finals.

The Semi finals were played against the host team on Sunday morning. Once again the team showed up to play. They controlled the play for the entire game. They did their best to avoid the penalty box as the Flamborough Sabres had a game plan to try and play us physically to slow us down. This only added fuel to our team as they scored 8 unanswered goals with a 8-0 win sending the Flames into the finals on Sunday afternoon.

The stage was set. Penetang Flames vs the Burlington Bulldogs. Penetang controlled the play through the first period and a half and opened up a 2-0 lead. Their smothering forecheck was in full display and amazing backchecks by every forward limited any offensive chances for the Bulldogs. The second half of regulation play the Bulldogs showed off why they made the finals. They capitalized on 2 rare Penetang breakdowns and sent this game into a 3 on 3 sudden victory overtime. HWPO! With lots of open ice for the teams to work with, the Flames controlled the majority of the play in the Bulldogs zone. Their goalie made some amazing saves and had some help from his posts and the Flames sent a barrage of shots on him. Not to be outdone, our keeper made some tournament winning saves during the OT period and allowed us to finally put one past the Bulldogs keep to secure the Championship win in the 50th Annual Flamborough Showcase Year End Tournament.

Congratulations U11 Flames. HWPO, you have all made the Coaching/Management Staff, Families and Association Proud. You were the talk of the U11BB loop as other teams were making comments that we should be in the A or AA divisions. They all were impressed that a small town could dominate play vs their larger towns/cities.