February 12, 2017.
Last weekend (Feb 3-5)
the Bantam Roster Select (RS) Tigers competed in the 42nd Annual OCHL Heritage
Tournament, which hosted a 102 RS teams in a variety of age groups.
The Bantam Division consisted of 16 teams broken down into 4 pools of 4 teams each. The Tigers battled hard through the round-robin portion of the tournament, going undefeated with an impressive 3 – 0 record, securing first place in their pool and earning a chance to advance to the 'A' Championship.
In the semi-final game on Saturday evening, a win would secure the team a spot in the 'A' Championship game, while a loss would secure a spot in the 'B' Championship game. Unfortunately, the Tigers were beaten by a very strong Oakville Hawks squad, leading to a spot in the 'B' Championship game on Sunday.
After suffering such a discouraging loss for the Tigers, it was gut check time. With the semi-final game running late into Saturday night, the team would be forced to shake it off and re-group for an early Sunday morning contest, less than 10 hours later. Not knowing how the boys would respond after the previous night’s loss, the coaching staff received a clear answer the next morning. The pre-game atmosphere in the dressing room was impressive to say the least - with upbeat players and music blaring, the team was clearly ready to take care of business.
The game against the West Mall Lightning provided everything one could expect from a championship tilt. It was tied, 2-2, at the end of regulation, leading to a 5-minute sudden death overtime, which settled nothing. It was shoot-out time. Both teams would have to go four shooters deep before the championship was decided by a thrilling, edge of your seat, shoot-out winning goal by the Tigers.…..Tigers win, Tigers win, Tigers win!!!
Congratulations to all of the team on a fantastic tournament and a thrilling finish. Well done!!!