Admirals take home OMHA crown
The Southern Tier Admirals lived up to expectations, bringing home an Ontario Minor Hockey Association championship in the U11 division at the OMHA championships held in Kingston.
The Admirals went a perfect 5-0 en route to their title, including a 3-2 win over the Quinte Blue Devils in the championship final.
“Ever since I took the team there were definitely expectations,” Admirals head coach and former St. Catharines Falcon Josh Oort said. “The staff did their best to prepare everybody and to win something like that, you need a lot of things to go the right way. And assuming that we stayed healthy and played our best hockey that time of year and got the goaltending, if all those things checked out, I knew we had a very good chance to win.”
The Admirals went 3-0 in the round-robin portion of the tournament with a 6-2 win over the Burlington Eagles, a 3-1 victory over the Whitby Wildcats and 4-1 win over the Barrie Jr. Colts. The Admirals then blanked the Guelph Gryphons 3-0 in the semifinals to advance to the championship final.
Oort said the Admirals were ready to win this year after coming up just short last time around.
“It is a talented group of kids,” he said. “Last year we lost in the semifinals against Barrie at the OMHAs in a game where we completely outplayed them but ran into a very hot goalie. Quinte won it last year and I don’t know that last year we were prepared or good enough or were quite ready to try to go over the top.”
Oort commended the group for coming together for the common good.
“That’s what makes it all worthwhile, right? Just to see the kids, that they bought into what we were teaching but more importantly bought into each other and then to be rewarded in their version of the Stanley Cup was very special to say the least.”
The Admirals were a top-notch defensive club headed up by the goaltending of Fort Erie residents Sylas Hill and Matteo Vacca.
Oort said Hill had an exceptional season and rose to the occasion in the playoffs.
“He led the league in save percentage, goals against average, wins. He’s the prototypical, big-game goalie. He tracks the puck so well in big games, but especially when the chips are on the table, he seems to get more and more dialled in. He’s a big frame. He’s unbelievable at sealing the bottom of the net.”
Following are members of the team:
Sylas Hill
Matteo Vacca
Mateo Brock
Levi Catherwood
Eli Cook
Jaxson Good
Graham Matthews
Beckham Oort
Alijah Palechuk
Everett Pasquini
Lochlan Reid
Bryson Royer
Christian Sommise
Mason Surla
Cole Turcotte
Owen Westlake
Silas Zeller
Staff
Head Coach: Joshua Oort
Trainer: Rene Royer
Assistant Coach: Matthew Catherwood
Assistant Coach: Noah Desmarais
Assistant Coach: Andere Bourgeault
Dear reader. If you liked this story or one of the 6,700 other stories found on our website, please consider hitting the Support Us button on the right-hand side of our home page and making a PayPal contribution to our website. Your support would be much appreciated. If you are a business owner, please consider advertising on our site. Our rates are reasonable and we provide plenty of exposure for your business. Contact [email protected] for more information.
