Oct 19, 2018 | astevens | 1421 views
Milton Winterhawks Atom A Boys are Golden in Bradford Tournament
This past weekend, the Milton Winterhawks Minor Atom A team attended the Bradford Bulldogs tournament. The Minor Atom A age category was easily the largest division in the tournament, hosting a total of 14 teams from all over the province. This was the second tournament the Winterhawks team had been in so far this season, and with the first one ending in a 4-3 championship defeat, the boys were hungry for a championship trophy.
In the opening game of the tournament, the Winterhawks faced the Georgina Blaze. It was a close game that Milton was able to blow open with 3 quick goals in the third period after Matteo Mazzawi had opened the scoring in the first. Defenseman Chase Nasato pitched in with a couple of assists aiding the Winterhawks to start the tournament on the right foot with a 4-0 victory.
In the second game of the day, Milton faced local rival Oakville Rangers Blue and this proved to be a tough contest. The two teams battled back and forth and traded goals until Colin Richards scored the game winning goal late in the second period with a key assist from Kyle Stevens. Gabriel Antonucci also played a big role scoring the opening goal of the game. Final score Milton 4, Oakville 2.
In Saturday morning's contest the boys were up against a tough Welland team that they had faced in their previous tournament and pulled out a 1 goal victory. In the rematch, Armaan Kenth provided the only offense needed by scoring halfway through the first period and Gavin Myson backstopped the team to a 1-0 shutout accompanied by great defensive work by Cameron Champion and Max Cai.
In the last game of the round robin, the Winterhawks got off to a slow start but a key save on a breakaway by Gavin DeFrancesco in the first period sparked the team who then rallied for a 5-0 victory over Richmond Hill. Defenceman Aiden Hewitt and forward Gavin Putzu contributing with a couple big goals.
Sunday's semi-final affair was a nail biter. Milton went back and forth with the Ottawa Sting for most of the game. Michael Duggan scored a beautiful top-shelf goal to give Milton the lead at 3-2 before defenceman Aidan Ryan scored the game winning goal in the third period on a fast-paced rush finishing off the 4-3 victory.
In the finals, Milton faced another Ottawa valley team in Kanata who also finished round robin play with a record of 4-0 before winning their semi-final, pitting the top two teams against one another in the finals. Milton saved their best game for the last and had an outburst of goals by forward Noah Dapat who scored 4 goals and added another assist. Andrew Thatton also pitched in with a key assist. The Winterhawks completed their undefeated run of 6-0 through the tournament to capture the gold medal with a very decisive 6-1 victory.
Milton named their Tournament MVP captain Charlie Straka based on his leadership and consistent hard work and had a solid effort from every single one of the 17 boys on the ice.
Written by John DeFrancesco
Photo & Video courtesy of Insight Imaging
Video - https://youtu.be/pJIWgV-BQvI
