The
Valley East Rebels Major Pee Wees went undefeated in five games to capture
the gold medal at the Annual Novice Atom Pee Wee hockey tournament hosted
by the Valley East Progressive Hockey Association recently.
Shown
in the photo are some of the members of the winning team:
Standing,
from the left: Robert Chaput, Captain Lucas McAlpine and
Joel Villeneuve. Goaltenders, from the left are Andre Rouselle and
Julien Paquette. The club’s defensive play was most impressive, allowing
just two goals in five games with three shutouts.
During
the round robin play, Valley East started off with a 1 to 1 tie against
South Porcupine then defeated Humberview 6 to 0 and Walden 4 to 0. In the
semi-finals Valley East edged out New Liskeard 2 to 1 while South
Porcupine got by Sudbury’s Vitto Brand 3 to 2, setting up the final with
the two undefeated clubs. However, Valley East was prepared for the battle
and came out flying, completing dominating South Porcupine and ending up
on top of a 5 to 0 score.
Other
members of the winning team include: Serge Belanger, Martin Bizier, Alex
Boudreau, David D’Antonio, Robert Deschamps, Chad Dubreuil, Tyler Houle,
Matthew Landry, James Paris, Eric Demers and Steven King. The coaching
staff includes: Ed Paquette (Head Coach); Rod Lapointe (Assistant Coach);
Marc Dubreuil (Manager); and trainers, John Scott and Daryn Degroseilliers.
In
the Novice Division, Valley East ended up in 2nd place out of
the six teams in the round-robin by losing to Copper Cliff (3-2) and then
downing Caledon (4-1) and Timmins (5-0). They met up again with Caledon in
the semi-finals and were not as successful, losing out to the visiting
club by a 4 to 1 count. West Ferris ended up winning the championship with
a closely fought 1 to 0 victory over Caledon in the final match.
The
Minor Atom went undefeated in the round-robin section of their division,
tying Sudbury (4-4) and Espanola (2-2) before edging out Blind River
(3-1). However, they met up with the Copper Cliff in the semi-finals and
were eliminated as a result of a 3-0 score. Copper Cliff went on to down
Espanola in the finals again by a 3-0 margin. For Copper Cliff it marked a
perfect tournament with five wins and only one goal scored against.
The
Valley East Major Atoms played well, but couldn’t make it past the
round-robin. They won their first game against Walden (5-4), but then lost
close games to Sault Ste. Marie (3-1) and Nickel Centre (2-1) to finish up
in 3rd place in their division and out of the playoffs.
North Bay ended up defeating Rayside Balfour in the championship
game by a score of 2 to 1 to take home the gold.
In
the Minor Pee Wee Division, the Rebels downed Sudbury Puck Master (2-1)
and tied Whitby (0-0) before losing to Timmins (2-0). They met up with a
hot team from Thunder Bay and were eliminated in the semi-finals by a
score of 7 to 0. Timmins eventually went on to down Timmins 3 to 1 in the
finals for the championship. Timmins outscored its opposition 24 to 4
during the five games it played.
A total of 38 teams
took part in the annual tournament.
