Jan 13, 2020 | seanfagan | 1346 views
McDougall Marlies Crowned Champions in Bradford!
On
January 10, 2020, Coach T.J. O'Neil and his McDougall Marlies traveled to
Bradford Ontario to participate to the Bradford Blue & Gold tournament.
In game 1 against a very strong North London, the team rallied from behind to win 7-3. The Marlies kept in going in game 2,
by defeating the Bradford Bulldogs 7-2. With four teams at 2-0, they still needed a victory in their final game to guarantee a
place in the semi-finals. Once again, a strong third period was the deciding
factor as the Marlies skated to a 6-2 victory.
After
an all-night freezing rain storm, the Marlie caravan set of to Beeton down an unplowed 400 freeway, finally
arriving at a cold, old arena for a semi-final against the undefeated
Kincardine Kinucks. The Sault team took a 2-0 lead into the final few minutes. A costly penalty with 1:30 to go allowed the Kinucks to score
and then tie the game with 43 seconds left to force overtime. Skating
with 3 players a side, A.J. Coccimiglio passed the puck to Ryan Dufour, who buried it to
become the overtime hero!
On to the finals against the top ranked Kitchener Majors,
who had only allowed one goal all tournament. At the midway point of the first, the Marlies opened the scoring and did not quit there. They continued with
three goals in the second and three more in the third. Only a fluky redirection
robbed our outstanding goaltender of her shutout as the game finished 7-1. Gabi
DeMarco finished the tournament with a 5-0 record and a tremendous save
percentage.
The
coaching staff is so proud of this team and want to give a big thank you to all
the parents, grandparents, siblings and friends who were on hand to support
these young boys and girls. These are the memories that they will cherish
forever!
L-R: Jordan, Liam, AJ, Mac, Kris, Carter, Mason, Jaron, Ryan,
Jake, Gabi, Joel, Kale
Standing: Cam, Landon, Sean, TJ, Will, Steve, Wayne, Nick