Bulldogs capture first SOSSA hockey title
The Sir Winston Churchill Bulldogs finally got over the hump.
The Bulldogs defeated the Holy Cross Raiders 6-2 to capture the Southern Ontario Secondary Schools Association SOSSA AA boys hockey championship Tuesday in Port Colborne.
It is the first SOSSA title for the Bulldogs, who now advance to the Ontario Federation of School Athletic Associations (OFSAA) championships in Brooklin, March 19-21.
“Super proud of our guys,” Sir Winston head coach David Kamatovic said. “We’ve been knocking on the door for a lot of years so I’m super happy for our hockey program and for Sir Winston in general.
“It’s been a long time coming.”
Kamatovic said the team gelled at the right time of the season.
“Towards the end, towards playoffs, we just seemed together as a team,” he said. “Everyone was understanding their roles and their positions on the ice.
“We had the players, we had the team. In my mind it wasn’t a surprise. It was just coming together as a team, and that’s what happened today.”
Sir Winston forward Dillon Atkinson scored a pair of goals in the final and is thrilled to be heading to OFSAA.
“It feels awesome,” said Atkinson, a 16-year-old, Grade 10 student. “I’ve never been to OFSAA so I’m super excited.
“It felt awesome to help the boys get to OFSAA. It’s great.”
Atkinson plays for the Niagara North Stars U16 AAA where he is coached by former St. Catharines Falcons forward Jason Glenney.
“We definitely had the skill. We had a lot of AAA guys come and all the Niagara North boys, and we finally came together at the end,” Atkinson said.
The Bulldogs built a 4-0 lead before running into penalty problems which allowed the Raiders to cut the margin in half before regrouping and scoring a pair of late goals.
“It was just a total team effort. We left everything on the ice. There was no stopping us today,” Kamatovic said. “We let them back in the game a bit with some undisciplined penalties, but for the most part I thought we were in control. When you have that big cushion there’s no panic button.”
Holy Cross Raiders coach Mike Sirotnik had no regrets.
“I just told them I was really proud of them. They held their heads high, they played well, and ground it through to the last mile,” he said.
Sirotnik said the Raiders slowly realized their potential as the season progressed.
“It was a bit of a surprise. We came together practice after practice, game after game and then the kids started to believe in themselves,” he said. “They played for a commitment. If everything starts to move together then success starts to happen. They started to see that and kept going with it.”
Atkinson and Easton Poirier paced the Bulldogs with two goals each while singles went to Jack McNeil and Ty Kostyniuk.
Gavin Tomczuk and Preston Anathopolous replied for the Raiders.
SEMIFINALS
Bulldogs 6 Phoenix 3
The Bulldogs knocked off the defending SOSSA champions in a semifinal matchup Tuesday morning.
“It was a highly competitive game. They’re a really good team and a really strong team. It was a really physical game and we just came out flying,” Kamatovic said.
McNeil, Atkinson, Poirier, James Lindsay, Nick Gilby and Alex Caiazza had the goals,
First names were not included on the Saint Francis game sheet.
Raiders 4 Dundas 1
The Raiders overcame a tough beginning to knock off Dundas in their semifinal.
“It was a little rough when it first started out but the kids settled down,” Sirotnik said. “We told them if we get out ahead then we just have to keep everything out and out of our end and that’s what they did. They bought into it and away they went.”
Calo Zambito, Lucas Roberts-Ramol, Griffin Lacroix and Sheldon Walker scored for Holy Cross.
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