Nov 26, 2018 | Andrew Karges | 1272 views
Pittsburgh Thanksgiving Classic Champions
Congratulations to the Bantam Black MD Team on their well deserved tournament win this past weekend in Pittsburgh.
The Bantam Black MD Team celebrated American Thanksgiving in style going undefeated with a 5 & 0 record that included a dramatic come from behind 3-2 win in the championship game. The weekend included some good eats, Penguins game, a lot of shopping for some and many memories.
The tournament started Friday with a 6-1 win vs the Caledon Hawks and a gutsy 4-2 win vs the Toronto Avalanche later that afternoon. With a possible four points in our pocket the Wolves occupied first place after day one of the tournament.
On Saturday the only scheduled game for our Wolves was against the Richmond Hills Stars. After a slow start and being behind 1-0 late in the 2nd period the boys found another gear scoring 3 goals in under 4 minutes and never looked back finishing the game with a 6-1 win.
Sunday morning was an opponent the boys were very familiar with, the Cambridge Hawks. Two weeks earlier these same Hawks beat our Wolves in the final of the Cambridge MD Festival. With revenge on their minds and a chance to knock Cambridge out of the tournament the Wolves played what may have been their best game of the season. With a complete effort and a shutout by Cameron Smart the Wolves skated to an impressive 3-0 win.
With the win the Wolves would lock up first place at 4 & 0 and wait for an opponent later that afternoon in the final.
With the finals looming at 3pm the Wolves would find out that Cambridge would sneak through on the 2nd tie breaker rule, goal differential.
The game provided some memorable moments, an acrobatic glove save by Colsyn Martin in the first period that brought the crowd to their feet. Some hard work in the trenches with Landon Krysko sacrificing his body to block a slap shot from the point. The balanced scoring in the final was impressive as all three lines contributed with a goal each.
Cambridge would take a 1-0 lead into the 2nd period until Evan Wright would tie the game on an almost impossible angle. Trailing 2-1 entering the 3rd period Brady Ross would score 10 seconds into the period off the faceoff on an incredible solo effort laying on his back.
As time ticked down the big man Will Leather flew down the wing utilizing his speed. With each defender standing still Willy drove around the net and completed an impressive wrap around goal which held up to be the game winner.
With a push in the final 1:30 seconds the team kept it together for an impressive 3-2 TEAM win.
A number of areas are impressive like the 5 wins in 5 games, the 22 GF or even better the 6 GA. The most impressive stat is how these boys stuck together and battled for each other all weekend.
Thank you to all the family members that made the trip to Pittsburgh.