The ceremony was held on Tuesday, August 10 at the newly renovated Laurentian Stadium and featured, the Parade of Athletes who arrived to thunderous applause and there were a lot of athletes, actually more than at the recent winter Olympics. They paraded and the athletes all looked wonderful in their matching outfits.

There was no time to linger as the joy and magic saved the night. The joy came from the local entertainers who are all up and comers in the music industry, Attic Jack, Life Size Dream, Ms. Faith Stadnyk and Ms. Brooke St. Jacques all performed.

The ceremonies began at 7:00 p.m. as many locals came out and filled the stadium to support the wonderful athletes in all of the sports disciplines and of course the lighting of the Games cauldron, and now let the games begin!

Boys U14 Game #1 – Toronto Selects vs Withrow Park Knights

Gianni Vercesi of the Selects scored a late power play goal with 3 seconds left in regulation to tie the game after Zack Barrett for the Knights opened the scoring on a short-handed goal in the second period.

This was a spirited opening game in which both goalies, Gian Luca Tatangelo of the Selects and Christian Eppstadt of the Knights would play very big roles in this tie. Both teams had a lot of good scoring chances and just couldn't find a way to beat the goalies.

Boys U14 Game #2 – Beeton Xtreme vs Brampton Bruins

After winning the Provincial Championship a few weeks earlier the Xtreme sent a message to their opposition early scoring 4 first period goals en route to a 7-0 victory over the Bruins. 

Led by Conner Whiteside (1G & 3A) this group from the Xtreme will be a handful for teams to manage as they appear to have three solid lines and big, fast defenseman and solid goaltending.

Girls U18 Game #1 – Chatham Coyotes vs Beeton Xtreme

The first game in the girl’s tournament was an end to end battle with both goalies, Katrina Heyink of the Coyotes and Claire Shaw from the Xtreme keeping both teams at bay for the entire game. 

The only goal of the game would be scored by Emily Williams of the Coyotes assisted by Karly Dobbin and Robin Morrison.

Girls U18 Game #2 – Kitchener Rangers vs Penatang Blazers

When you win tournaments you become everyone’s target and that is how the Penetang Blazers won the Summer Classic earlier this summer and this tournament wasn’t going to be any different.

You build championship teams from the net out and Danielle Bailey is a good one and when you have balanced scoring you can go far in any tournament. The recipe was followed in this game with the Blazers coming away with the 1-0 win.

Boys U14 Game #3 – Withrow Park Knights vs Beeton Xtreme

For the second game in a row, the Xtreme struck first. At the 15:48 mark, Sam Bennett came out from around behind the goal fired the ball over the goalies shoulder. "A lot of our offense game comes from the back end,’ Xtreme coach Jacobi said. "All of these goals were transitional-type things that got us back into their zone. Solid defence leads to good offense. That is the right way we try to play."

The Knights would be thwarted of any scoring chances by goaltender Mike Masucci who withstood the charge after the Knights evened the game at 1-1 midway through the first period.

The Xtreme would come on strong en route to the 5-1 victory.

Boys U14 Game #4 – Brampton Bruins vs Toronto Selects

They say it is always tough to play the teams that know who you are and these two teams have competed at the Metro Cup, the Provincial Championships and today at the Summer Games so you would expect a close game and that is what we got with the Selects coming away with a 2-1 victory.

The Bruins knew they had to be better prepared to compete after the opening loss to the Xtreme and the team came out fired up and played a solid game.

Girls U18 Game #3 – Penetang Blazers vs Chatham Coyotes

These two teams would battle to a 0-0 tie with opportunities at both ends of the rink, but were thwarted with the goaltending of Danielle Bailey of the Blazers and Katrina Heyink from Coyotes. 

Both teams had excellent chances to score on the power play opportunities, but these two netminders would close the door on every chance.

Girls U18 Game #4 – Beeton Xtreme vs Kitchener Rangers

Camille Mc Carthur scored the winning goal at 4:26 of the first period and Claire Snow would keep the Rangers from finding the equalizing goal as the Xtreme went onto a 2-1 win.

"I like the way we were shooting the ball at the net, but we have to capitalize on our chances and especially on our the power play opportunities," said Xtreme coach Steve Dockerty, whose team is tied with Chatham for first place after two games.

Boys U14 Game #5 – Beeton Xtreme vs Toronto Selects

Welcome to the Connor Whiteside show. Mr. Whiteside scored the game’s first goal and added two more with one late in the first and the hat trick goal early in the second in leading the Xtreme to the 5-2 victory over the Toronto Selects.

The Selects would draw close on goals by Nicholas Da Concelao and Spencer Maclean who also chipped in with assists on each other’s goals.

Boys U14 Game #6 – Withrow Park Knights vs Brampton Bruins

What an entertaining game with end to end action as the round robin portion of the tournament came to an end. The Withrow Park Knights and Brampton Bruins would play to a 1-1 tie.

The goal scorers were Lianni Liarkos for the Knights and matt Attanasi for the Bruins.

The semi finals match ups are, (1st) Xtreme vs (4th) Bruins and (2nd) Selects vs (3rd) Knights.

Girls U18 Game #5 – Chatham Coyotes vs Kitchener Rangers

The Coyotes would overcome a go ahead goal by TJ Wight and find the equalizer with nine minutes to play on a goal by Karly Dobbin.

Both teams did everything to win, but they are also so evenly matched that the margin of victory is so small that it may come down to a bounce here or there to determine gold, silver and bronze.

Girls U18 Game #6 – Penetang Blazers vs Beeton Xtreme

Brittany Aguis of the Blazers and Guillianna Pallota of the Xtreme would score first period goals for their respective teams as this game would end in a 1-1 tie.

This Blazers team seems to be the measuring stick for all others and have battled and maintained their level of play against all opposing teams. 

So the question heading into the semi finals for this team, will it continue? The semi finals are set with, (1st) Blazers vs (4th) Rangers and (2nd) Coyotes vs (3rd) Xtreme.

SEMI FINALS

Boys U14 Semi Final Game #1 – Beeton Xtreme vs Brampton Bruins

The Xtreme are getting contributions from everyone and that is not good for the opposition. Noah Delmas with two goals and Christian Petrozza and Nick Polsinelli chipped in with singles in leading the team to a 4-0 win over the hard working Brampton Bruins.

The Bruins who were under manned for the entire tournament played valiantly in a losing effort and will refocus their attention towards their opposition in the bronze medal game.

Boys U14 Semi Final Game #2 – Toronto Selects vs Withrow Park Knights

Sam Smith led the way with a goal and assist for the Knights and Christian Eppstadt was the last line of defence holding off the vaunted Selects offense in the final ten minutes of the second period.

Gianni Vercesi scored the lone Select’s goal with thirty four seconds left on the second period.

The Selects will face their cross town rivals in a Greater Toronto Area match up in the bronze medal game as they will face the Brampton Bruins at 10:00 am.

The Gold medal game will see the undefeated Beeton Xtreme against the Withrow Park Knights at 11:30 am and both games will be hosted at the Centennial Arena. 

Girls U18 Semi Final Game #1 – Penetang Blazers vs Kitchener Rangers

Kristen Laughlin and Vanessa Hartley each scored goals, and Danielle Bailey again was rock solid in the Blazer net leading the team to a 2-1 victory, but not before a strong effort from the Kitchener Rangers who had Nicole Gehl reply mid way through the first period to tie the game.

Steve Bressette, coach for the Blazers said, “this is where we wanted to be playing for gold in the Summer Games”. 

The Rangers who played a spirited game will play the Chatham Coyotes in the bronze medal game.

Girls U18 Semi Final Game #2 – Chatham Coyotes vs Beeton Xtreme

Claire Shaw got her second shut out of the games and Madeline Vanderzagg scored the only goal of the game on an assist by Camille Macarthur early in the second period as Xtreme road goaltending and defence into the championship final.

Xtreme Team Manager, Lisa Hawton, exhilarated by the team performance stated, ‘these players just get the most out of each other and are thrilled at what they have accomplished so far.”

The Coyotes will refocus their attentions on the Kitchener team who they tied in round robin play 2-2 in the bronze medal game.

MEDAL ROUND

Boys U14 Bronze Medal Game – Toronto Selects vs Brampton Bruins

In a spirited game, the Brampton Bruins who were never discouraged and actually had all those in attendance cheering for them on every goalie save and shot on net against the Provincial Semi Finalists, Toronto Selects. 

However, in the end the Selects would over power the Bruins and win the bronze medals with a 8-2.

Boys U14 Gold Medal Game – Beeton Xtreme vs Withrow Park Knights

The Beeton Xtreme won the U14 Ontario Summer Games Championship with a 5-1 victory over the Withrow Park Knights. The Xtreme received balanced scoring throughout the Games and the final was no exception with five different scorers, Dylan Yip-Chuck, Ryan Franks, Noah Delmas, Maurizio Colella and Christian Petrozza. For the Knights, Steve Alvo replied with 3:25 to play ending the shut out for the Xtreme netminder.

The Knights who captured the silver medals carried themselves very well on and off the floor all week en route to the silver medals and their ‘golden effort’.

Girls U18 Bronze Medal Game – Chatham Coyotes vs Kitchener Rangers

There is no question that having a good goalie gives a team confidence and the Chatham Coyotes have theirs in Katrina Heyink. She makes everything look so easy and it is always business as usual on her way to another shutout.

The Coyotes would be fueled by the strength of their netminder and responded with two goals in the second period by, Megan Moore and Danielle Mayer.

Girls U18 Gold Medal Game – Penetang Blazers vs Beeton Xtreme

If these two teams are any indication the sport of women’s ball hockey in our province will be strong for many years. They had played to a 1-1 tie in the previous match up in preliminary round play and this game would be just as close with both goalies making big saves thwarting the opposition.

Camille Macarthur and Brittany Brussard would give the Xtreme a 2-0 lead in the first period which they would never relinquish en route to the gold medal and a 2-1 victory over the Blazers. Vanessa Hartley fresh off her stint at Nationals would score the lone marker for the Blazers.

On a final note, the Games were a wonderful display of skill, sportsmanship, but most importantly an incredible show of camaraderie between all the players. Many of which stayed around the arena when they weren’t playing and cheering on the other teams. No one will forget the powerful Beeton Xtreme U14 team wearing no shirts and spelling out B R A M P TO N across their chests in support of the Bruins or the chorus of songs and chants from each of the four girl’s teams that resonated throughout the Centennial Arena over the past three days. 

These are the special moments for these young adults where ball hockey transcended past sport and built friendships as everyone will left these games with wonderful memories.

Medal Round Results

Congratulations to the Ontario Summer Games, the Sport Alliance of Ontario, the City of Sudbury and surrounding area, volunteers as well as the tournament administrators, officials, the teams, and their coaches along with the throng of parents and fans in attendance that made this inaugural event for the spot of ball hockey a huge success and memorable life experience for everyone involved. 

We hope to see everyone in 2012!

All photos courtesy of Marc Bouffard.