The Valley East Major PeeWee Rebels were certainly a happy group as they posed with their gold medals after capturing the Wayne Gretzky International Tournament Championship earlier this year. Over 180 teams took part in the event which was held in Brampton.

Valley East played against teams from Sweden, Chicago and Woodstock to take the title.

"These kids play with courage, heart and determination," commented head coach, Ed Paquette. "They not only have the will to win, but they are good listeners and follow directions very well. It is a real pleasure working with them."

The team has played in several tournaments this season, and in each they have been one of the top contenders. They won the Northern Ontario championship as minor peewees last year and this year travelled to New Liskeard at the beginning of March in their quest for a repeat title. After finishing with a 2 wins, 1 loss and 1 tie record in the double-round robin play with Hearst and Nickel Centre, the Rebels faced their arch-rivals, New Liskeard in the semi-finals. For the second time this season the Valley East Rebels emerged with a hard-fought 2 to 1 victory which not only propelled them into the finals against Kapuskasing, but also qualified them to represent the Northern Ontario Hockey Association in the Provincial Championships being hosted by Kapuskasing on Easter weekend. While they eventually lost to Kap in the title game by a score of 4 to 2, the players were still pleased with the fact that they had accomplished their goal of making it to the All-Ontario Championships.

Paquette, along with his coaching staff of Rod Lapointe, Marc Dubreuil, John Scott and Daryn Desgroseilliers, have enjoyed their two years with the club. "We began working on the basic skills in minor peewee and they have developed to the point where we feel they have a good chance of achieving all of our goals this year."

"If it was not for the generous sponsors from the community, our kids wouldn’t have a chance to experience things like the Gretzky tournament," explained Paquette as he expressed his appreciation for all of the support his team has received. "I can’t say enough about the parents. They are behind the kids 150%. Without their involvement a lot would be missing."

Walter Gretzky, Wayne Gretzky’s father, spoke to the team after they won the tournament and said, "The 1^st people you should thank are your parents."

The Major PeeWees are not the biggest team around, but they use determination, courage and hard work to get around their lack of physical size.

The 80 game season will now culminate with a trip to the All Ontario Championships in Kapuskasing where they will face clubs from Toronto, Ottawa and Thunder Bay in a five-team tournament to determine the best PeeWee ‘A’ squad in the province. It will be a competition that all will remember and one which may also launch a possible career for some of the better prospects.

Players on the team include: Julien Paquette, Andre Rouselle, Serge Belanger, Martin Bizier, Alex Boudreau, David D’antonio, Robert Deschamps, Chad Dubreuil, Tyler Houle, Matthew Landry, James Paris, Eric Demers, Steven King, Joel Villeneuve, Robert Chaput and Lucas McAlpine.