OMHA Minor Bantam A Playdowns – The Championship Series

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A Special thank-you to Joshua Vandenbosch for the excellent assist with the video camera during the past several weeks.

2008 OMHA FINALS

BARRIE COLTS VS. WELLAND TIGERS

vs.

SCHEDULE

Welland wins series 6 points to 4

Game 1 – Sat. 3/15 3:00pm Barrie 3, Welland 2

Game 2 – Sun. 3/16 2:30pm Barrie 4, Welland 1 (EN)

Game 3 – Sat. 3/22 1:10pm Barrie 3 @ Welland 5

Game 4 – Sun. 3/23 1pm Barrie 2 @ Welland 3

Game 5 – 3/29 2:15pm Barrie 2 @ Welland 3

Game 5 Recap

DO YOU BELIEVE now?

In excess of 650 fans that attended yesterday’s OMHA Championship Final Game 5 inside the Welland Arena and walked past signs posted that asked them “DO YOU BELIEVE?”, which had become the rallying cry of our hometown hockey heroes, the Welland Lifestyle Financial Tigers, during this remarkable playoff run.

Seeing is believing, folks.  Watching this team battle back once again from a two-goal deficit to take the 2008 OMHA Minor Bantam A crown in a 3-2 home-ice victory was indeed something special.  Although Welland has a rich hockey history, this is the first team to bring home a OMHA “A” title to the Rose City.

After playing a very cautious two periods that saw the Barrie Colts outshoot the Tigers 12-6, Welland turned up the tempo to outshoot the Colts 10-8 in the third period.  More importantly, they also outscored them 2-1 in the final frame, including the game-winning goal from captain #11 Colton Ambrosio with only 19.1 seconds left to play.

The Colts landed the first blow when #6 Matt Meher scored from #17 Josh Wilson at 8:23 of the first, and #16 James Fletcher stretched the lead to a deuce with a power-play goal that was assisted from #10 Lucas Panezutti and #7 Riley Robinson.

Ryan “Bubba” Dakin replied for the Tigers with an unassisted marker at 12:42 of the second frame, and #18 Jakob Banner tied the game at two at 6:39 of the third period on helpers from #14 Sebastien Beaudoin and #19 Nicholas Beaudoin.

Just when it appeared that the game might be heading to overtime, Tigers’ captain #11 Colton Ambrosio brought the house down with 19.1 seconds remaining with his game-winning goal that was set up by #19 Nicholas Beaudoin and #14 Sebastien Beaudoin.

done

The Barrie Colts fired 20 shots at Welland netminder #1 Brodie Barrick on the afternoon while Welland sent 16 to the attention of Barrie goaltender #1 Daniel Rocha.  The Tigers did not get any powerplay opportunities during the game, while the Colts were 1-for-2 with the extra-attacker on the afternoon.

True to his form all series, Colts netminder #1 Daniel Rocha continued his excellent play yesterday and should be congratulated for his efforts during all five games.  Offensively, Barrie captain #6 Matt Meher should also be acknowledged for his strong play leading the Colts all series, as he always seemed to be generating great scoring chances with his playmaking and shot-taking abilities.  The Colts were presented with the WJ Weller Finalist trophy and medalions as well as hats for their tremendous performance this season.  On behalf of Welland Minor Hockey Association and the Welland Minor Bantam A Tigers team, I would just like to extend thanks to the entire Barrie Colts team and fans for putting on such a memorable Championship final with us.  The atmosphere and level of competition were second to none.

As you read through the previous entries on this playoff run for the Tigers, you immediately notice that it was the entire team who equally contributed to their success.  From series to series and game to game, different players stepped up to make the difference on both offence and defence, not to mention both goaltenders who played phenomenal under pressure.

What casual observers of this team may not know is that a core group from this team also won the Ontario Baseball Association Peewee B Championships this past season.  What this tells me, beyond the fact that they are some very good all-round athletes, is that they are also a group of very teachable kids.  I think this was a key factor in this series, as they were able to deploy new defensive tactics that Barrie simply could not work around.  Tremendous credit goes out to Rick Young and his coaching staff for the adjustments they made to turn around this series after they came back to Welland down two games.

The 2008 OMHA Minor Bantam A Finalists,

and winners of the W.J. Weller trophy, the Barrie Colts:

#1 Daniel Rocha, #2 Kyle Clark, #4 Tully Jackson, #5 Taylor McLean, #6 Matt Meher “C”, #7 Riley Robinson “A”, #8 Brett Scott, #9 Ryan McPhail, #10 Lucas Panezutti, #11 Jesse Schuster, #12 Alex West-Gaul “A”, #14 Dustin Morden, #15 Corey Derose, #16, James Fletcher “A”, #17 Josh Wilson,#30 Jonah Ross and affiliated players Andrew McFadden, Jason Binnie, Tyler Watt and Billy Mangel.  Head Coach Scott Jackson, Assistant Coaches Kevin Myers and Chris Brown, Trainer Richard Morden and Manager Dave West-Gaul.

The 2008 OMHA Minor Bantam A Champions,

and winners of the Charles Wilson trophy, The Welland Lifestyle Financial Tigers:

#1 Brodie Barrick, #2 Michael Simpson, #3 Justin Brown, #4 Reid Robertson, #5 Ryan Kirchmayer, #6 Nick Spillman, #7 Darren “Jamario Goon” DiMarco, #8 Cody Munroe, #9 Jeromy Hopkins, #11 Colton Ambrosio, #12 Jake Vandenbosch, #14 Sebastien Beaudoin, #15 Matt Hopkins, Ryan “Bubba” Dakin, #18 Jakob Banner and #30 Alessandro DeChellis.  Head Coach Rick Young, Assistant Coaches Mark Chesniak and Steve Hiller, Trainer Cyril Banner and Manager Tim Grant-Young.

2007-08: A Year To Remember Retrospective Video – http://video.google.ca/videoplay?docid=-2065418242542417317&hl=en-CA (includes the post-game awards presentations to both Finalists of the Championship Series).

Game 4 Recap

Let’s Hear It For The Boy(s), Let’s Hear It For The Boy(s)

As they have done time and again all season, the Welland Lifestyle Financial Tigers continue to pull out all the stops when their backs are up against the wall.  Emerging from a heart-pounding 3-2 home victory this afternoon, the Tigers have erased the four-points-to-none deficit that they found themselves under after last weekend’s opening losses in Barrie.

Despite the holiday, another large crowd of Tiger faithful were on hand this afternoon for an exciting Game 4, which saw the Tigers pull out to a 2-0 lead in the first period before Barrie stampeded back into contention in the middle stanza.  #11 Colton Ambrosio found the mark at 4:50 of the opening period, on helpers from #5 Ryan Kirchmayer and #12 Jake Vandenbosch to give Welland the early lead.  #16 Ryan “Bubba” Dakin would add to this lead at 10:47 of the period, assisted by #9 Jeromy Hopkins and #14 Sebastien Beaudoin.

Barrie’s captain #6 Matt Meher replied with an unassisted marker at 3:56 of the second to make it 2-1, and then he along with #16 James Fletcher assisted on #5 Taylor McLean’s power-play tally at 13:55 of the period to even the scoreboard at two-all.

Moments after Welland netminder #1 Brodie Barrick stared down Meher on a breakaway attempt that resulted from a bad home-side line change, Dakin scored his second of the game, and fifth of the weekend on Colts goaltender #1 Daniel Rocha, to restore a one-goal lead for the Tigers.  Welland killed off a late penalty and held on for the win, forcing a Game 5 back in Welland’s Main Arena next Saturday afternoon at 2:15pm.

Barrie converted on 1-of-5 power-play chances in the game, while Welland scored just seconds after their only man-advantage situation of the contest had expired.  The Tigers held the edge in overall shots-on-goal by a 33-26 margin.  The winner of today’s 50/50 draw took home a sum of $209.  Thank you to everyone who generously supported the 50/50 fundraiser this weekend.

Once again, the success of the Tigers today resulted from a spectacular total-team effort.  Every single player in uniform stepped up their games once again on every shift to largely corral the Colts.  Even during the second period that saw the Colts gallop back into the game with two goals, the Tigers permitted them only seven shots on net, despite killing off consecutive minors in the latter portion of the period.  Barrie’s first goal, the unassisted marker by Meher, appeared to many to have only hit the crossbar and bounced back out, never entering the net, however, that was not the official’s ruling on the play, who allowed the goal to stand.

One thing is certain, fans who attended today’s contest certainly did not leave disappointed, having witnessed an extremely exciting, hard-fought game of which both teams can be equally proud.  Looking forward to more of the same next weekend as the series comes to its conclusion.

Here are some video highlights from all the action:

Welland’s first goal:  done

#8 Munroe with the steal, #1 Rocha with the save… done

Welland’s second Goal:  done

Barrie’s first goal:

done

Barrie’s second goal:  done

Barrick stares down Meher on the breakaway chance in 3rd: done

Welland’s game-winning goal:  done

—

Game 3 Recap

Stayin’ Alive, Staying Alive

The Welland Lifestyle Financial Tigers did not disappoint the hundreds of fans in attendance for Saturday’s afternoon’s game versus the Barrie Colts as the went on to win 5-3 in Game 3 of the series and force at least a fourth game back in Welland on Sunday afternoon at 1pm.

#11 Colton Ambrosio opened the scoring at 8:08 of the first from #18 Jakob Banner and #14 Sebastien Beaudoin.  done

#16 Ryan “Bubba” Dakin doubled the home-side advantage at 9:23 of the opening stanza on helpers from #5 Ryan Kirchmayer and #6 Nick Spillman

done

before Barrie answered with a goal at 13:56 from #12 Alex West-Gaul, on passes from #4 Tully Jackson and #8 Brett Scott, and at 1:24 of the middle frame from #17 Josh Wilson on a feed from West-Gaul.

#3 Justin Brown would stake the Tigers to a 3-2 lead on an assist from #12 Jake Vandenbosch at 6:56 of the second, and Dakin would entend that lead to 4-2 on passes from Banner and #9 Jeromy Hopkins at 13:02 on the power-play.

Dakin would record his hat-trick on an unassisted marker at 4:49 of the final frame to provide a three-goal cushion for Welland.  While #15 Corey Derose would notch an unassisted tally to make it 5-3, the Tigers closed out the game strongly to capture their first two points of the series.

Welland outshot Barrie 33-18 and Each team was short-handed once in the contest, with Welland capitalizing on their lone chance while Barrie did not.  Goaltending at both ends of the ice was once again spectacular, with both #1 Brodie Barrick for Welland and #1 Daniel Rocha for Barrie coming up with some excellent stops throughout the contest.  Sharpshooters from both sides solved the netminders on some very beautiful goals in this contest, but they both played extremely well despite the combined eight goals against.

The winner of the 50/50 draw took home a prize of $229, thanks to the large crowd in attendance and their generous support of the fundraising effort.

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Filed under 2007-08 Lifestyle Financial Minor Bantam A Tigers, Sports Writing/Commentary, Tournaments/Playdowns

Tags: 2007-08 Lifestyle Financial Minor Bantam A Tigers, Barrie Colts, Sports Writing/Commentary, Tournaments/Playdowns