Written by Bobby Knorr
This past weekend the B-W Feed & Seed Wilmot Wolverines Atom B team travelled to the LLHFL Tournament of Champions in Mississauga and accomplished their pre-season goal of bringing home the gold medal. The championship victory was not easily earned, and the girls had to dig deep in order to end the weekend on top. With their new motto: “Why Not Us?” the girls proved that all of the sacrifice and hard work that they had put in since early September was rewarded.
The five regional Championship teams that qualified to play for the top “B” team in the League were all incredibly talented and equally matched. In the qualifying round, the first four games of the tournament that were played on Friday ended in 1-0 scores, illustrating how important a role strong defense would play, and that goal scoring would be at a premium.
Wilmot finished the qualifying round with a record of 2-1-1. It was Saturday afternoon’s improbable and spectacular 4-2 win against the extremely talented and hard working Stratford Aces that provided the Wolverines with a chance to see the Gold Medal game on Sunday afternoon. Wilmot went to bed on Saturday night needing help from either Stratford or Clarington to keep their run for the gold alive. On Sunday morning, Stratford helped Wilmot by defeating North Halton 3-0 allowing the Wolverines the opportunity to play North Simcoe in the championship.
The girls from Wilmot entered the gold medal game with a quiet confidence which would prove to be an extremely exciting and fast-paced contest. Both teams traded chances at both ends of the ice throughout and the entire Wilmot team shut down the North Simcoe Capitals with stifling pressure which took away their time and space. Wilmot took a 1-0 lead late in the first period on a beautiful goal by Paige Jurica, on which she was parallel to the ground as the puck crossed the line. The Wolverines kept battling hard and eventually made the score 2-0 on a Paige Carter bullet very early in the third period. North Simcoe refused to quit and came at the Wolverines with all they had right until the final buzzer. Emily Jantzi made several key saves in the dying minutes to secure the shut out and gold medal for the Wilmot Wolverines.
A huge congratulations goes out to all of the girls and their families. Winning a championship requires a full team effort, not just from the players, but from the entire parent group and community as a whole. This was indeed a “team” effort . How ‘bout those Wolverines?!
2013-2014 Atom ‘B’ Wolverine Roster:
Brianna Arends
Lauren Bast
Rayne Bowden
Paige Carter
Bella Davidson
Sierra Egli
Emily Jantzi
Paige Jurica
Sydney Knorr
Jenna Kumpf
Alisha Latyn
Olivia Lichti
Mikayla O’Connell
Kayla Schenk
Lindsay Slessor
Carson Weiler
The Wolverine coaching staff include: Head Coach Rod Lichti, Asst Coaches Dan O'Connell, Steve Weiler, Bobby Knorr, Trainers Leslie Morton, Melanie Weiler and Mgr Lori Spoltore.