13-14 PeeWee | Mar 03, 2014 | peeweeaaa1 | 4919 views
PEEWEE AAA – Brings home BRONZE medal from the Ontario Winter Games !!!
The PW AAA Gryphons headed out to Huntsville this past weekend and returned home as Bronze Medalists!
All Players and families arrive safely thursday after detouring a closure on hwy 400 from a massive 96 car pile up, along with battling snow squalling weather. Upon arrival, players were issued their roommate assignments, plus, their weekend credential passes for the tournament. Players were then bussed to their team meal venue and then off to the Opening Ceremonies in Gravenhurst where they stood out in -31 degree Celsius weather with the other athletes and participated in the athlete parade. A new meaning of “Canadian Winter” was born.
Friday game day - 8am puck drop. Tournament game play was 3 - 15 mins
periods. Guelph arrived at the games with a 9 game winning streak in
regular season. Guelph had a lot to prove in being here with elite teams
from around the province. We played a strong game against the 2014 OHF host
team Ottawa 67’s and came away with a 4-2 win. At 4pm, Guelph then faced
the Soo Jr Greyhounds and spanked them with a 7-2.
With 2 wins under the team’s belt, we were focused for game 3 vs the
Thunder Bay Kings. This game proved to be a tough physical game. Guelph
was leading 3-2 up until the final 12 seconds where TBK tied it up at 3.
The tie secured first place in the division and a semi final birth against
the Mississauga Rebels. This game would determine whether we played for
Gold/Silver or for Bronze.
Despite our efforts, Guelph came away in the semi final game with a 3 goal
deficit against Mississauga, final score of 6-3. Not a bad showing
against the #1 rated team in Ontario. Guelph would face the Ottawa 67’s
again for the final medal opportunity.
The team had a mission plan to play on Sunday for the chance to win a
medal! The reality was when qualifying for the Bronze game it was known the
67's are an elite top 5 team in Ontario and winning a medal was going to be
very tough!
With focus, determination, teamwork, heart and the “lucky gator toque” worn
by one of the coaches throughout this tournament, Guelph was determined to
put it all on the line – and they did. The game ended up with a nail
biting score of 3-2 thus, winning their BRONZE MEDAL!!!
Our Coaches and families are extremely proud of this group of boys. Not
only did they represent the City of Guelph well, they represented the OMHA
well. A team staff member was approached by our OMHA official with the
best compliment ever, out of the 8 teams, our boys were the best
behaived!!!
This OWG experience will forever hold special memories for all. It was a
great accomplishment to win Bronze, however, when you hear the players
talk, you hear about the non-tangible things like, the new friendships they
made with the other teams players, who they may have played against or
shared a hotel space with and then cheered them on in games. You hear
about the enhanced relationships with their own teammates and coaches, with
whom they spent 3 days with, eating, travelling and accommodations. You
hear about the bus rides to and from the events where the bus driver that
made them cheer before their games. And most of all, you hear about how
much they wished that the weekend would not have ended as they had a small
scale taste of what it must be like being an Olympic athlete. These
memories are what builds character in our players, in our youth.
Way to go Gryphons and Coaches! We are all blessed to have shared this
experience with you!