The Owen Sound Crescent Club Junior Attack Major Midgets used the round robin to shake off three weeks worth of rust and then romped their way to an Ontario Hockey Federation Championship on Sunday with a 6-1 win over the London Bandits.
CONGRATULATIONS - 2012 OHF CHAMPIONS
What memories - what a year!!!!
Ryan Hamelin had a natural hat trick in the second as Owen Sound bounced back from a 1-0 first-period deficit to lead 4-1 after 40 minutes.“We started a little slow in this tournament because we’ve been off for three weeks,” said coach Trevor Cunningham whose squad had not played since late March.
“Once they got back at it again and started to rely on the system that we’d used all year, they started to roll.”
Skylar LeBlanc, David Vander Ploeg and John Morris added singles. Jerred Kiss earned the win in goal.
“By the time we got to Christmas we had a pretty good feel that we were going to be a competitor in the OMHA,” said Cunningham who complimented London for not starting any nonsense when the game was out of reach.
“You never know what can happen as far as the other team is concerned. but they showed a lot of class. They knew they were beat and they didn’t get stupid. It could have gotten pretty ugly with them losing the way they were, but they showed a lot of maturity.”
The lack of drama in the final minute let Cunningham enjoy the moment.
“I was looking down the bench at how excited these boys were,” said Cunningham whose team received the OHF Championship trophy and gold medals for their win.
“I was just so happy for the boys. They knew it was coming and they’d worked really hard for it. I was happy they finished it off the way they did.”
The Ontario Minor Hockey Association Champion Junior Attack Crescents were 2-2 in round-robin play and then thumped the Schumacher Cubs 7-3 in the semifinals on Sunday morning.
Lauchlin Elder, Brandon Eagles and Hamelin each scored twice while Vander Ploeg added a single. Brandon Vanderschot earned the win in goal.
“We’re pretty fortunate because we have three very strong lines and they were able to all add something to the team,” said Cunningham.
“We counted on all three lines to score goals and to prevent goals from going in. If you look at our record, we didn’t have a lot of goals scored against us too. That also says something about our goalies.”
Owen Sound was 2-2 in round-robin play, winning their final game on Saturday 3-1 over the London Bandits to finish at 2-2 and in second place.
Owen Sound also lost 7-5 to Schumacher on Saturday.
“We didn’t know what to expect (in the round robin) so we weren’t disappointed (in going 2-2),” said Cunningham whose team was led into town by the city fire department and greeted at the Harry Lumley Bayshore Community Centre by family and friends.
“Once we got rolling, we had a good feeling that things were coming together and they did.”
Owen Sound’s lineup also includes Josh Bumstead, Nate Kramer, Kyle Linthorne, Adam Roy, Tyler McCracken, Dylan Carder, Tanner Bastien, Chris Baker, Nick Bruce and Captain Tyler Cunningham.
The Assistant Coach is Scott Amyot, the Trainer is Carl Linthorne and the Manager is Rhonda Vander Ploeg.
“It’s extremely exciting because it’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity,” the captain said.
“I was extremely proud (to be handed the trophy). Everyone played extremely hard all year. It’s nice that it paid off with an OHF championship.”
About half of this team is eligible to return next season.
SLAPSHOTS: Five players who came up all the way through the Owen Sound minor system were on the ice for the final minute of play — Bumstead, Baker, Carder, Roy and Linthorne.
courtesy of the Owen Sound Sun Times