Waterloo Wolves Major Atom AA team wins the 2015 Rochester Invitational Tournament

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Dec 17, 2015 | Rocky Jain | 1287 views

Waterloo Wolves Major Atom AA team wins the 2015 Rochester Invitational Tournament

This past weekend the 2015 Waterloo Wolves Major Atom AA team travelled to Rochester, NY to compete in the 2015 Rochester Invitational Tournament.

The team arrived on Thursday night, checked in and collected their warm walnut chocolate chip cookies (nice touch DoubleTree). Most of the boys headed straight for the pool then finished the night off with some mini stick battles. The parents enjoyed some beverages and popcorn (some more than others). It was fun to see the hotel overrun by Waterloo Wolves as both the 2005 and 2004 AA teams were in town for the Tournament.

Our first game was against the Amherst Knights at 11:15 am, at the Bill Gray Regional Iceplex and apparently home of the world’s greatest cheeseburger. It was a bigger ice surface then the boys normally play on and they used every inch as the Wolves came out flying against the Knights. It was a hard fought battle with both teams not backing down. In the end the Wolves edged the Knights with a 3-2 win.

In a shocking move, between games, some of the team ended up at 5 Guys Burgers and Fries for some lunch. Rumor has it there was even a brave soul who added Bacon to his milkshake (only in the USA).

Back at the rink for our 4 pm game the Wolves faced the Connecticut Kings and took control of the game early and skated to an 8-0 win. The boys were 2-0 in their first day of the tournament.

Friday evening saw the team and parents head to watch a NCAA Division 1 hockey game at the nearby Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) – the RIT Tigers were playing the Niagara Purple Eagles. It was a great experience for the team to be introduced to another type of high level hockey as well as see some Canadian born players on both the US college teams (one of the starting goalies was from London). The boys were also exposed to some interesting student cheering methods. All in all an awesome experience for the team.

Early Saturday morning found the Wolves playing the Rochester Grizzlies, the host team, at the Thomas Creek Ice Arena - the epitome of a quaint community hockey barn nestled in an area that would remind you of a Normal Rockwell painting. Clearly the Wolves had eaten their Wheaties that morning as they dominated the game and took it to the Grizzlies with a score of 6-0.

With a fair amount of time between games and thanks to the epic powers of our social committee the whole team shuttled over to the Olive Garden to “carb up” or in some cases “chicken finger” up for lunch. After some delicious food gluttony many non-players left to walk it off at the local Outlet Shopping Centre, while the team returned back to the hotel to rest, bone up on their mini stick skills and get ready for our 6 pm game against the Ottawa Sting.

In our fourth game of the tournament we ran into a very strong Ottawa Sting team – a quick skating and disciplined passing team that stung the Wolves 3-1. The Wolves finished up the round robin with a record of 3-1 and looked to play the Amherst Knights in the semi-finals on Sunday morning.

On our final night at the hotel, we took advantage of the hotel’s hockey recreation room (nice catch Kathy) and enjoyed some freshly delivered pizza (thank you Lisa and Dave). The boys enjoyed the pool and some mini sticks to finish off the night and then headed to bed for the early morning Semi Final Game.

Sunday morning the team took to the ice with a steely determination – having played Amherst in the first game of the tournament and only winning by a goal the team knew they had to be ready to play and they were. It was a hard fought battle with both goalies making some epic saves on breakaways. In the end, the Wolves relentless attack was rewarded in the third when we broke the game wide open taking it 6-0. It was a great win and it propelled us to the finals against the Ottawa Sting.

Ottawa Sting vs the Waterloo Wolves: The final game was a war between two very good teams. However, seeing the way the boys came back from warm-up and the calm but fun atmosphere of the dressing room prior to the game you could tell the boys were ready to do something special. They didn’t underestimate the Ottawa team – they knew they could play with them and they showed it. The Wolves set the tone early scoring the first goal and they kept up their intensity the whole game – battling through some tough situations but keeping their poise. In the end the team played very well on both sides of the puck with some fantastic offensive work and some stingy defensive play, coupled with solid goal-tending. The game was tight going into the third but the Wolves kept to their pack motto of “We Will” and they did – with the seconds ticking down to end the game the sticks and gloves were in the air – with smiles as big as humanly possible on their faces (and on their parents as well). The Wolves won 5-2 and ended their tournament as Champions.

It has been a great couple of months for the boys - making the AA tier, getting to the finals of the Guelph Tournament, winning the Rochester Tournament and currently undefeated in AA tier league play. The coaching staff has done a great job in encouraging this team into becoming “a pack” that enjoys their time with each other – always laughing and having fun as a team – living up to their team motto: “Wolves All in” and “We will”. Congratulations to the boys and the coaches on a fantastic tournament win and a great 1^st half of the year.

On a final note – thank you our team manager and the social committee for making this such a great weekend – awesome hotel and team events!

-- Stephen Heron