Eden Flyers 1-2 at OFSAA
The Eden Flyers girls hockey team concluded a successful season by posting a 1-2 record in pool play at the Ontario Federation of School Athletic Associations A/AA championships in Dryden last week.
The Flyers opened the tournament with a 2-1 victory over St. Mark’s before losing 3-1 to Dryden and 3-0 to St. Anne’s. Eden trailed 2-1 late against Dryden before giving up an insurance goal. In the game versus St. Anne’s, the game was tied 0-0 heading into the third period. St. Anne’s ended losing the bronze-medal game 3-2.
Head coach Dave Hunter, who was assisted by Allie Pay, was impressed by the calibre of play at OFSAA.
“I’ve been doing this for 20 years and the level of play at OFSAA was incredible,” he said. “There were so many outstanding players. It was unbelievable.”
Hunter attributed his team’s success to its personality.
“We were really a team,” he said. “I has some really good leaders and some good Grade 12s that brought it this year.”
The success of the team was a little surprising considering he graduated six players from last year’s squad.
“The only thing that really stands out this year was my goaltending,” he said. “I have Isabella Aceti in net and she’s playing junior in Kitchener.
“When you have an amazing goalie, you can go far.”
Helping Aceti out along the way were Felicia Mori, Camryn Bagshaw, Chloe Wielink, Emma Thompson, Grace Tawil, Kirsten Johnson, Claire Rose, Amy Baggs, Avery Johnson, Kennedy Smith, Taylor Dool, Mya Capes, Melina Krekorian and Kamryn Blake.
Once the season got started, Hunter knew he had a squad that could help Eden make OFSAA for the first time since 2010.
“We won a tournament in the Falls and we went up to tournament in Burlington and won that tournament,” he said. “I knew we had a good team, but we had to deal with some injuries to two of my best players in the second half the season.
“But they were back just in time for playoffs and that made a huge difference.”
The Flyers went 4-1-1 in Niagara Region High School Athletic Association Zone 4 league play before defeating Beamsville 4-1 in the semifinals and previously unbeaten Grimsby 2-0 in the final.
In the overall Zone 4 final, Eden won a marathon match over Niagara Catholic Athletic Association rep Holy Cross. The game went through five-on-five, four-on-four and three-on-three overtimes before the Flyers won in the shootout when their seventh shooter scored.
At the Southern Ontario Secondary Schools Association championships, Eden defeated McKinnon Park 3-1 in the semifinals and Dundas Valley 1-0 in the final.
Hunter is in rebuild mode once again as he will lose five players off this year’s squad to graduation.
“That’s quite a bit of turnover but it’s pretty normal,” he said. “That’s the way it goes.”
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