The Waterloo Atom MD Wolves joined forces with Peterborough,
Center Wellington and 2 teams from Oshawa to take on 5 teams from the U.S.A at
the Nation’s Cup. Canada turned out to
be too much for our southern neighbors to handle and 5 proud teams, all wearing
the coveted maple leaf, sang our national anthem together at center ice! ...
The Wolves would come out strong in the round robin play, outscoring opponents 47-2. This put the Wolves in the top seed on the Canadian side, and pitted them against the top seeded US team, the Eastside Bulldogs from Detroit. In their round robin match, the Wolves skated past the Bulldogs 7-0, however the final game featured a very different looking Eastside team, and a Wolves side that struggled to find their footing. Down 4-1 late in the second period, a timeout was called to try to compose the ailing Wolves. The boys rebounded with a flurry of action. A goal early in the third would see the Wolves start to realize that as long as they believe they can do it, they’re never out of it. The boys came together and loudly cheered each other on, and midway through the third another Waterloo goal would put us right back in it. Then, late in the third, the Wolves would bang in their fourth goal to tie it up. At this point, the boys were back to their old selves, full of confidence and ready to bring it to the Bulldogs in overtime. However, as it turned out, the tie was enough to win Canada the Nation’s Cup, and so by tournament rules, the game ended in a deadlock and the boys got to hoist the championship trophy! The coaches were very proud at the resilience of these boys – the heart they showed, even when it seemed like nothing could go their way was in itself worth the trip to Detroit, however the boys walked away with many cherished memories. Not to be pessimistic, but there may be *a few* kids from our team who may not eventually play for the Canadian Men’s Olympic team. Competing with the maple leaf on their chest, and standing arm in arm with their fellow Canadian teams singing O Canada obviously made this a once in a lifetime experience!
Continuing on in league play, the Wolves travel to Burlington to take on the Bulldogs Red squad on Saturday, and on Sunday Waterloo will host the Brantford 99’ers. The following weekend, the Wolves will compete in the Chatham Regional Silver Stick, with hopes of qualifying for the International Silver Stick final in January. Let’s keep up the hard work Gentlemen – playoffs are around the corner so we need to keep our minds focused and our legs moving!
-Coach James