Bantam A Wins Oshawa Cup Tournament
Congratulations to the Ajax Knights Bantam A team in winning the Oshawa Cup.
The round robin portion of the tournament was not without it’s challenges. After having played a late league game in Trenton the night before, the team got off to a sluggish start ultimately falling to Whitby Wildcats Blue 5-1. After a good nights rest, the Knights went on to garner their first victory of the weekend on Friday with a 2-1 win over Nickle City. Later in the day, they faced a strong team with an incredible goaltender, the Aurora Tigers that ended in a deadlock, 1-1.
With the win, the tie and other results by the teams in their group, the Saturday night game against the Oshawa Generals was merely a matter of circumstance. Regardless of the result, they were poised to enter into the playdowns for Sunday. And it showed. Oshawa gave the team a sound thrashing resulting in a 5-2 loss and an overall round robin record of 1-2-1. This loss was most certainly a wake up call.
Sunday morning, they would face the round robin first place Aurora Tigers yet again. The Knights game out flying and very quickly attained a 4-0 lead with a hat trick by B. Morrison and strong goaltending by V. Nguyen. Aurora attempted to come back and was able to bury but one puck in the net, but an empty netter solidified a 5-1 victory and an advance to the final versus the Clarington Toros who had defeated the Whitby Wildcats Blue.
The final proved to be a tight contest between two very equally matched teams, the Knights and the Toros. Teams exchanged goals throughout the contest with A. Reilly garnering a hat trick and R. Bannister proving, in the clutch, to be solid in goal. The Knights hung on through the dying minutes with a one goal lead, a player in the penalty box and a vacant Clarington net. 6 on 4, the Knights pushed back an onslaught to claim victory for the game and the tournament!
Congratulations to the players, coaching staff and the parents.
GO KNIGHTS GO!!!!