Novice 1 Aeros Undefeated in Niagara Falls
3 weeks ago we had a tough 5-0 loss against West London. 1 complete pass and 3 shots on net during that game was probably a generous estimate. During our post-game chat we challenged the boys to be a better "team" referencing legendary Michigan football coach Bo Schembechler's famous "The Team, The Team, The Team" speech.
I truly believe this was the "TSN turning point" of our season. The boys rose to the challenge in our following games and we started to see the things we've been working on in practice come to life. After a couple of wins under our belt and a tight 1 goal loss to West it was perfect timing for an away tournament weekend to Niagara Falls for the Peter Mancuso Memorial November Challenge. And what a beautiful weekend it was.
The Aeros came flying out of the gate with a 5-2 win on Friday morning vs the Aurora Tigers to start the tourney followed by massive 10-1 thrashing of the Clarington Toros highlighted by an unreal breakaway pass from Adam to Reider. We wouldn't have dreamed about seeing something like this just a few weeks ago. The day was capped off by a great team dinner at Boston Pizza and more fun at the hotel.
We only had one game to play on Saturday morning and the boys crushed the Amherstburg Stars 8-0 to take 1st place in our group and a spot in the semi-finals on Sunday. We had fantastic day touring around the Falls, hanging out at the hotel and a great steak dinner together at the Keg (Tony, Tony, Tony!!!). Sorry to the wedding party beside us but we were having way more fun than you.
We had an early Sunday morning tilt with the Oakville Rangers in the semi-finals. It was a tough battle as Oakville is always a strong club but the boys brought it and held the Rangers off for a 4-2 win highlighted by Braden's (Rhino) huge 2 goal effort.
Sunday afternoon's final brought a showdown with the 19-1-2 St. Thomas Jr. Stars who won their semi-final vs the Oshawa Generals 10-0 and had only allowed 1 goal against in the entire tournament. My sources tell me they expected to "smoke" us. Well the shock and awe started with Nick burying our 1st goal 20 seconds into the game followed by Janger and Reider with 1.4 seconds left on the clock in the 1st period. The Stars mounted a furious comeback and had us on our heels in the 2nd and 3rd scoring 2 goals to bring the game to 3-2. Our Aeros were not going to be denied on this day. Late in the game we pinned the Stars down in their end and watched the time tick off the clock taking the win and the tournament championship.
Awesome breakouts, beautiful passing all over the ice, relentless fore-checking, great goal tending, it was a complete team effort. Every single player chipped in all weekend.
To say I'm proud of our Novice 1 Aeros right now is a big understatement and I can't wait to see where they take it from here. Look forward to seeing the championship banner raised in Oakridge Arena.
There's no turning back now boys. Let's continue it in the Oakridge Bob Stark tourney this weekend.
Also, congrats to the Aeros Midget team on their tourney championship in St. Mary's.
Go Aeros!
Coach Rich