This past weekend the Aarkel Bantam TC1 team extended the Christmas break from league play and travelled to Brantford to play in the sought after Walter Gretzky House League Tournament.
The Bantam age group was divided into 2 divisions of 12 with each division have their own champion. Wallaceburg found themselves in the Bantam 1 divisions where they would face Barrie Forest Green, Ajax Fuji Dental and West London Hawks in Pool 1C.
Round Robin:
In the first game Friday vs Barrie the team got off to a slow start and after being down by 1-0 eventually got things going. Only seconds into the 2nd period, playing with a heavy heart Josh Snelgrove scored a goal for his grandpa. After that the team pulled together and scored 4 more on the way to a 5-2 victory; chipping in was Ethan Burfield, Caleb Tulloch, Connor Ruttan and Kaiden Petranik.
Later that evening the Lakers faced an Ajax team whose game seemed to model the Lakers and this comparison made it a tough game. After a scoreless 1st period both teams managed one in the 2nd and Wallaceburg scored again shortly into the 3rd and was able to hold off Ajax for the 2-1 win. Scoring for the Lakers was Kyle Morrison and Zander Cogghe.
In the last game of Round Robin Wallaceburg faced West London and although they didn't have their best performance they managed a 1-0 win to secure them 3rd place overall after Round Robin play.
Championship Round:
In the Quarter finals Wallaceburg faced one of the hometown teams - Brantford 99ers. The game was nothing short of exciting as the both teams battled to the end. With under 2 minutes to go down 2-1, while waiting to pull their goalie at the right moment the Lakers managed to tie it up a goal by Jackson Oliver (his 2nd of the game). Then only 40 seconds later Wallaceburg took the lead on a goal by Kyle Morrison and held on to win 3-2.
In the Semi finals the Lakers faced off against the Barrie Colts Gold, a team that went 3-0 in Round Robin and scored 18 goals, only allowing 1. It was a big challenge for Wallaceburg to face but they were up to the task. Half way through the 1st period Wallaceburg scored on a goal by Zander Cogghe. This would be prove to be enough and the winner as the Lakers held on for a 1-0 victory on the shoulders of a great goalie performance by Macky.
In their sixth and final game Wallaceburg was set to face another Barrie Colts team (white), another team that went undefeated through Round Robin and their semi final. Once again the Lakers were facing a dominate team who managed 27 Goals for and NO goals against. Coming off success of their own Wallaceburg was determined to give them all they could. With only 4 minutes gone in the game Wallaceburg managed to do what no other team had done and scored on a goal by Quinlan Fields. 30 seconds later Aiden Latimer double the goals against the Barrie team for the tournament. Unfortunately the celebration was short lived as the Colts managed to both goals back before the end of the 1st. In the 2nd period both teams were kept off the score sheet and it was poised to be a long, hard fought battle. But when the 3rd period came it seemed that the Lakers just didn't have enough to keep it together. Too many mistakes and penalties were made to allow a very good Barrie team to take advantage and by the time the dust settled the Colts took the victory 7-2.
In the end the Wallaceburg Lakers represented themselves and hometown well as they finished as Tournament Finalists taking home the Silver Medals. The coaching staff wants to thank all family, friends and fans for making the trip. They also want to say how proud they are of the boys for coming together as a team and for showing resiliency in the face of adversity. This time they weren't champs but they played like it and most importantly acted like it - WELL DONE!