Caledon Lightning bantam select team takes 'triple crown'

The Caledon bantam Lightning entered their final tournament in Bolton and came away with the championship hardware.

After winning the championship at both the Intra City League (at the end of March) and the Downsview tournament (at the beginning of February), the bantam Lightning entered their final tournament in Bolton with high levels of confidence and energy.

The tournament started on Friday evening against the Caledon Blackhawks at Teen Ranch Ice Corral.

Josh Lemont started in net and collected a win for his efforts. The Lightning consistently beat the Blackhawks to the puck and came out with a 2-1 win. The passing line of Peter Bowman, Evan Carriere and Mitch Theeuwen were strong with Theeuwen finding the back of the net unassisted for the first goal and Bowman taking the second goal with an assist from Carriere. All three lines played the steady strong hockey we have seen them develop over the past few months of the season.

Game 2 on Saturday afternoon was against the Oakville Bruins. It was an exciting nail-biter right down to the last seconds with multiple chances at both ends. With strong goaltending by Jamie Rowley, and outstanding stand-up defensive play by Dylan Eagles, Mac Footman, Nick Ruggiero, Corey Roberts and Justin Tabani, the Bruins only buried one puck successfully taking a 1-0 victory over the Lightning.

The earlier loss did not dampen the spirits of the team however as they came out flying in the third game of the tournament beating the Oakville Hitmen 4-2. The first goal of the night was from Corey Roberts with an assist from John West-Carvalho and Michael Spagnuolo. Travis Rumney then scored, unassisted. All three lines got into the action as Bowman also buried a shot with the assistance of John Gizzarelli and Theeuwen. Later in the game, Cole Lovell took the pressure off the team when he got the extra goal with an assist from West-Carvalho. Kudos to goaltender Lemont for a great performance in net.

The championship game of the tournament was set for Bolton arena on Sunday afternoon, a re-match between the Lightning and the Oakville Hitmen. The action started early as Dylan Stafford found the back of the net after a nice lead pass from West-Carvalho. Stafford had several excellent chances throughout the tournament and was finally rewarded for his hard work and team play. The timely goal put the Lightning ahead 1-0. Theeuwen then put in his first of the night with an assist from Bowman and Footman. The Hitmen came back with a beautiful goal past goaltender Rowley. Rowley had little chance on the shot, making it 2-1 Lightning. After a lot of hard work by each of the forward lines and solid play by the defencemen, the insurance goal was scored by Theeuwen with assists to Carriere and Tabani. Final score 3-1 Lightning.

Rowley was picked as the MVP of the game for his exemplary goaltending.

With this final success, the Lightning snagged three championships over the course of the second half of the season. A remarkable effort by everyone on and involved with the team!

Congratulations to coach John Carvalho and his bench staff, Russell Roberts, Jeff Theeuwen and Tony Ruggiero for creating a positive learning environment for this group of boys. With a lot of new faces at the start of the season, this team pulled together really well and the boys have made a lot of new friends and built new relationships which will take them to new heights in their personal lives as well as athletically. Congratulations to everyone for this successful year!