Bantam AA Wild Wing Hawks teach U.S. teams a lesson
From The Bench

The bantam AA Wild Wing Hawks sliced through the competition at a recent Michigan tournament to come away with the hardware.

Following a string of victories in regular season play the bantam AA Wild Wing Hawks took their momentum down to Munroe Michigan for a U.S. Thanksgiving weekend tournament.

Preparing for an event such as this is not an easy task. Between the bus, accommodations, food and drink, time tables, etc. a huge round of applause to our intensely dedicated organizers. That's just to get there. The other formidable tasks rested heavily on the shoulders of the coaching staff, and of course the players. Success was a foregone conclusion. When you're as prepared as they were, nothing was to interrupt the procession to the finals.

Game one set the tone. From the moment the big bus arrived at the arena there was a buzz. We were to become known as the "Red Jackets."

An impression to say the least as the entire team bounced off the bus in uniform hungry for some action. Our first opponent was from Hamilton.

Circling like vultures the Hawks peppered the opposition with shot after shot only to be faced with an amazing performance by their goalie. Persistence paid off with a slim 2-1 victory.

Game two was against the host team from Munroe. Scampering to a four-goal lead in the first period, Munroe never knew what hit them. Only one slight falter by the Hawks, make that a final 4-1.

Game three was a complete wash. Chatham wished they had never made it by the end of the first. The game was called mid-way through the 3rd period when the Hawks put them out of their misery and made it 10-0. An embarrassment for the Chatham team, and nothing more than target practice for the Hawks.

The semifinal against Dayton, Ohio. This was tough. They wanted to beat the "Red Jackets" real bad. With a few of our players feeling ill, we seemed to be on our heels for a good portion of the game. In fact we only came to life in the third period. We came from behind to steal the win by playing only one period. Make it 2-1 and off to the finals.

The championship game was against the host team again; Munroe. A pure character game. Down twice, our Hawks never gave up. After Munroe scored their second goal to go up 2-1 our bench responded, both verbally and with their play. They were not going to let victory slip by.

Sure enough we tied the score, which demoralized the Munroe squad. After that it was all over. The second period belonged to us, the third was a coast to the finish. Final 5-2.

Special recognition to the goalies and defensive corps, only 5 goals against in the entire tournament. Not to take anything away from the balance of the team but 4 out of the five games a defenceman was named as player of the game. A great tournament for a great team, with an impressive finish; undefeated.

DL