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Tournament Memories There were many great victories that we are pleased to say took place during our tournament this year. Some, resulted in a win for the team, and in a few instances a very nice trophy in the final game. While others, were victories of a different nature. They were victories of character, victories of the human heart, the will to overcome fear and certain defeat and yet still play for team mates. And there were many, many moments of unabashed joy at our tournament. It was found in a team working together to reach a goal, it was in a miraculous save, and in coaches, managers and parents smiles for a hard fought loss or win, with the knowledge that they had been a part of something that was beyond the surface of the ice, beyond the final score tally, and most importantly, beyond themselves. We play this game, for the love of it. And the Gloucester Centre Minor Hockey Association could not be prouder of the participants of our tournament, and the considered privilege that we have, of hosting them each year. Here is the story of some of the teams fortunate enough to go home with a trophy. |
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Midget B Division Championship Benji Smith scored twice, including the winner, to lift the Dollard Centennials to a 3-2 victory over the Stittsville Outlaws and thereby snatch the Midget B division championship at the Gloucester Centre house league tournament which wound up Sunday January 9th. For his heroics, Smith was named the team's MVP. Dollard coach Don Farber was quick to recognize the admirable performance of his team's goalie, Mike Morena, who is playing his first year of organized hockey. To advance to the Midget B finals, Dollard put down the Cumberland Coyotes by a score of 7-1, while Stittsville showed that it was an equal match by defeating the SouthEnd Colt 45s by a similar score of 7-2. |
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Bantam B Division Championship In the Bantam B division of the tournament, The Kanata Chargers, coached by Jonathan Lapp, got goals from five different players in their 5-0 trouncing of the Blackburn Stingers B1 to win the division championship. Shawn Zgraggen contributed the most points for the Chargers, earning a goal and two assists. In the Bantam B semi-finals, Kanata edged out Nepean J by a score of 2-1, while Blackburn exacted a 5-1 revenge on the Canterbury Raiders, the wild card, who had earlier beaten Blackburn 3-2 in the round-robin portion of the tournament. |
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| Bantam A
Championship In the Bantam A division, the Cumberland Mighty Ducks, coached by Guy Parisien, edged out the SouthEnd Patriots 3-2 in a hard fought championship, which saw only one minor penalty called in the whole game. The Patriots, coached by Harry Silverstone, played the penalty-free portion of the game. To arrive at the finals, the Mighty Ducks downed the Canterbury Knights by a score of 3-2, while the Patriots defeated the Ottawa Centre Renegades 4-3 in a shootout that had to go two rounds to be decided after the game finished in a 1-1 tie. |
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| Midget A
Championship After scoring two goals in the first five minutes of the game, the Gatineau Chevaliers hung on to defeat the Russell Warriors 2-1 in the Midget A final. Russell threatened late in the third period after scoring their lone goal with 2:45 left on the clock. In addition to winning the Midget A Championship, the Chevaliers, coached by Gerry Cyr, were named the tournament's Most Sportsmanlike Midget Team, chosen in large part by the on-ice officials. The honour comes with a plaque and a free golf tournament for the team at Golf-O-Max on Merivale Road. |
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| Coincidentally, the opposing coach
from Russell, Peter Kruys, was the coach of the
Russell Midget
teams that won the
Most Sportsmanlike Team award for the
past two years. Gatineau got a bye to the finals, while Russell had to first dispense of the Nepean Chiefs by a score of 5-2. |
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| Tournament Summary | |||
| The
Ottawa Centre Renegades Bantam A team, coached by
Lorne Abugov, was named the tournament's
Most Sportsmanlike
Team at the Bantam level and will receive a similar prize. The six-day annual Gloucester Centre house league tournament, which is now in its 31st year, brings together over 650 players, ages 13 to 17 years, representing 44 teams from across the Ottawa - Gatineau region and beyond. Noted for its special sportsmanship features, the tournament runs a Penalty-Free Sweepstakes in addition to the Most Sportsmanlike Team awards. This year, a total of 12 teams --- 11 Bantam and one Midget --- managed to play penalty-free a total of 14 times. Five of the 12 teams were selected to receive prizes consisting of passes to the popular entertainment centre called Tag Zone on Montreal Road in Vanier. Each prize consists of 10 passes and has a total retail value of $350. The winners of the Tag Zone passes include: Orleans Muscles, Bantam B, coached by John DeMarco South End Snipers, Bantam B, coached by Steve Cassidy Leitrim Hawks Bantam B1, coached by Danny Roe Canterbury Raiders, Bantam B, coached by Al Holmes Bytown Blues, Bantam A, coached by Rocky Crupi In the past six years, since the inception of the Penalty-Free Sweepstakes at the annual tournament, 55 teams have honoured the tournament by playing a penalty-free game. And in case anyone thinks you need to give up trying to win to play penalty-free, this year's successful teams won or tied their games in 10 of the 14 times they played penalty free. Furthermore, in three of the four times when the penalty-free team lost, it was only by one goal. The winner of the grand prize of the tournament raffles --- 20 Ottawa 67's tickets to the game of their choice and a pizza dinner for all 20 at Louis Steak House --- is Andrew Armstrong of Gloucester Centre. The other top raffle winners were: Nancy Kilrea of Canterbury, who won 15 passes to Tag Zone Zak de Freitras of Leitrim, who won a Telus Celephone from Mycell Lisa Spurvey of Orleans, who won the Team Canada jersey Mikhail Genise of Canterbury, who won the free financial planning services Maurice Labarge of Orleans, who won the Ottawa Senators jersey. The winner of the draw on the one-piece Graf hockey stick, held by Houle Sports Orleans in conjunction with our tournament, was Steve Blasutti of Orleans. |
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