Caledon players do well with Brampton club
By Brendan Lyons

These young Caledon residents had a successful season playing for the Brampton AAA hockey team. Seen here are (top row) Liam Winslow, Jake Payette, Zack Lyons, Brett Murray, (bottom row) Mitch Luzar, Travis Barron, Jack Jacome and Brody McLean.

This past hockey season, eight hockey players, born in 1998 living in the Town of Caledon were members of the minor atom AAA Brampton Battalion, and they were very successful.

They are Travis Barron, Jack Jacome, Mitchell Luzar, Zack Lyons, Brody Mclean, Brett Murray, Jake Payette and Liam Winslow. All of the players are exceptionally talented young players and are great rising stars of minor hockey.

The players have also had some fantastic individual success this year, each in their own style.

First off, Barron was voted home captain by his teammates. As well he was a top scorer for the Battalion all year.

Jacome worked hard in every game, utilizing his energy and was rewarded many times, which included some key goals for the Battalion during big games. He was the leading scorer for Brampton during the OMHA final weekend tournament in April.

Luzar, Murray and Payette were three key defencemen for Brampton this year and each scored a few goals, even though it is known to be harder to score goals playing defence.

The players all were fabulous defenders and special mention goes to Payette for his great shot-blocking ability as that is an important feature in a player and rare to see at the minor atom level.

Another special mention to Murray. After playing defence all year, he showed that he could step up and play forward when a teammate broke his arm. He also did this on such short notice and was solid filling in for his injured mate.

Luzar had a great season and proved he had a knack for skating hard back to knock the puck away from opponents while they were on a breakaway. He played very smart and was a steady "stay at home" defenceman for Brampton all season.

Lyons, who also had a great scoring touch this year, was in the top three for scoring in the Bell Cup Tournament in Ottawa. He was also an assistant captain for the team this year and was a big contributor during the OMHA finals where he was again one of Brampton's top scorers.

Mclean was another important player for the Battalion this year, as he was a great scorer up front with many points and a few key hat tricks that helped the team in many games over the season. He also won the Player of the Game award after the final game at the prestigious Preston International Hockey Tournament.

Winslow was a great season point producer, but a highlight to remember this season occurred during the Preston Tournament in Cambridge, where he was the top scorer for the tournament, getting a hat trick in a key game against Richmond Hill and the overtime winner against Clarington in the semi-finals. He was also the recipient of the Tournament MVP in the International Silver Stick held in Whitby in November.

All of the Caledon players were a huge part of the team and helped the Battalion go on to win the Preston tournament against the Toronto Marlies, which was one of the biggest tournaments in North America this year.

To end their season, the Brampton Battalion minor atom AAA team advanced to the final gold medal game in the OMHA finals and came away with a silver medal after battling through three periods of overtime against Welland. The Battalion lost the game 1- 0, but it was said by many attending this game that it was the most exciting hockey game seen at that age group.

All of the players from the team and the boys from Caledon held their heads high after a very successful season of hockey.

Brendan Lyons is a 13- year-old student at Allan Drive Middle School in Bolton.