Minor Bantam AA Silver Stick Finalists, News (Guelph Minor Hockey Association)

On Thursday, November 30th, the Guelph Jr. Gryphons Minor Bantam AA team, loaded the bus with new friend Vic behind the wheel and departed for the Sudbury Silver Stick Regional Tournament.    

The Jr. Gryphons began the tournament Friday morning, against a very good Ottawa Sting team, coming out on top, 4-3. Later that evening, the Jr. Gryphons took on the Nickel City Jr. Sons in a very tight affair coming out on the wrong end of a 3-2 score.  Saturday would now prove to be an extremely long day for the Jr. Gryphons.  The round robin was completed with a 5-0 victory over the Sudbury Wolves in a morning affair, setting up a quarter final matchup with the North Bay Trappers in the evening.  In an extremely close game, the Jr. Gryphons found themselves down 1-0 very late in the game and finally found a way to beat the North Bay goalie with only minutes to spare. The game would end in a 1-1 tie with a birth in the semi-finals on the line.  After the first overtime of 4 on 4 solved nothing, it now went to 3 on 3 where the boys turned it on ending the game in dramatic fashion.  Awaiting the boys were the previously undefeated Vaughan Panthers at 9:20pm for the semi-final game.  The Jr. Gryphons jumped out to an early 1-0 lead and then scored again in the second taking a 2-0 lead into the break.  Vaughan came out hard and scored on a Power Play, early in the 3^rd period, but the boys stayed focused and battled for the 2-1 win.  Now, it was a re-match against the same Ottawa Sting from game one for the Silver Stick Championship on Sunday.  After two periods the score was 3-2 Sting, and to their credit, Ottawa came out firing immediately after the break and the Jr. Gryphons simply could not answer.  Thanks to everyone for a great time in Sudbury and to Vic for making the trip extremely enjoyable and have us were where we needed to be, on time, every time.  Congratulations Minor Bantam AA on being Silver Stick Finalists 2017, well done boys!