U16 AAA Petes take silver, qualify for OHL Cup
The Peterborough Fitzsimmons Garage U16 AAA Petes punched their ticket to the OHL Cup Showcase Tournament while reaching Sunday’s final at the OMHA Championship Tournament.
The Petes defeated the OHL Cup Top 10-ranked No. 4 Oakville Rangers on the way to winning their pool before knocking off the rival Oshawa Generals, 5-3, in the semifinals. The Barrie Colts, the No. 2-ranked team for the OHL Cup, beat the Petes, 5-2, in the gold-medal game. The four semifinalists all clinched berths in the OHL Cup, which runs from March 25 to 30 at Toronto’s Scotiabank Pond and Mattamy Athletics Centre.
“I was really proud of the way the guys played and stuck together,” said U16 Petes coach Jamey Hicks. “We accomplished a lot of things this weekend and we’re excited about going to the OHL Cup through the front door.
“It’s a great opportunity for our players to continue to showcase themselves team-wise. It’s a year where there are lots of people watching from various hockey organizations, whether it’s the OHL or NCAA or Tier 2. To have it culminate in Toronto, there will be a lot of good teams that won’t be there, we’re excited to be there and represent Peterborough.”
It’s the second straight year the Peterborough Minor Hockey Council has qualified a team for the OHL Cup, but it took some dramatics for it to happen.
Peterborough lost to the No. 7 York-Simcoe Express, 5-2, on Friday but rebounded to beat the Niagara North Stars, 5-4, on Saturday morning and Oakville, 2-1, on Saturday afternoon. The team needed help to advance and got it when Niagara upset York Simcoe, 3-2, on Saturday night. It left the Petes and Oakville at 2-1 and Niagara and York-Simcoe at 1-2.
“After losing the first game, all we could do is win the next two,” Hicks said. “After that, we needed a little bit of help.
The Petes accomplished the feat without one of their top players. Colin Fitzgerald, projected as a potential first-round pick in the April 12-13 OHL draft, was serving a seven-game suspension. He was penalized for making a “discriminatory comment” to an opposing Oshawa player during ETA playoffs. With the OMHA appeal board not meeting until March 28, the Petes had no avenue for appeal prior to the OMHA tournament and forged on. He served his seventh game Sunday afternoon and is eligible to return for Game 1 of the OHL Cup at 9:45 a.m. on March 26.
“Losing a player of Colin’s magnitude for seven games was another challenge for our players. We didn’t really talk about it. We kind of accepted what happened and just moved forward. We’re really excited about getting him back,” said Hicks.
In the final, Barrie grabbed an early 2-0 lead and with five games in three days it was a tall order to come back against such a strong team.
“It’s tough playing catch up against them. They’re a really good team with some really good players, he said.
Nolan Butter scored both goals against York-Simcoe while Evan Healey and Matthew Souter added assists.
Against Niagara, Kale Mace led the Petes with two goals and two assists, while Declan Ready scored twice and Ryland Cunningham added a goal and an assist. Also adding helpers were Caleb Mitchell, Jacob McMahon, Buttar, Healey and Souter.
The Petes trailed Niagara 4-3 until Mace and Cunningham tallied 1:21 apart to go ahead with 8:31 left in the third period. Lewis Chatten earned the victory in goal.
Cunningham also scored the winner against Oakville, making it 2-0 in the second period. Oakville closed to within one in the third period but goalie Morgan Hyndman shut the door. Souter scored, as well, while Ready chipped in with two assists and singles helpers went to Nick Voisey and Mace.
Mace tallied a hat trick against Oshawa while Cunningham and Voisey also scored. Adding assists were Owen Kelly, Mitchell, Souter, Butter and Ready.
Cunningham scored both goals against Barrie, with assists to Mace, McMahon and Hyndman.