The 2016 GTA Ontario Ball Hockey Association High School Championship
The GTA Ontario Ball Hockey High School Championship now in its 15th year has arguably become one of the fastest growing and most popular events that the OHBA has introduced. Children and adolescents alike have been contesting schoolyard ‘foot hockey’ and ‘parking lot ball hockey’ competitions for as long as one can remember. Then, why not give such recess and after school ‘junkies’ an organized venue to showcase their skills?
The 15th annual OBHA Boy’s High School Championship was hosted in the City of Brampton on May 10 & 11. The tournament was once again a huge success as ten teams from across the Greater Toronto Area competed for institutional bragging rights.
In the round robin competition…
Although, there may have been very little separating the teams at the start of the tournament in both divisions, Riverdale Collegiate and Holy Cross would seem to be the class of the ‘A’ division and meet in the final and in the ‘B’ division, St. Marguerite and Frontenac would see their way to the championship game.
The ‘A’ Division Final Four
Riverdale vs Frontenac
Riverdale continued their dominance of the A division with their 6-0 victory of Frontenac and would move onto the final.
Holy Cross vs Newmarket
There were two games in one played as Holy Cross stormed out to a 4-0 lead in the first period only to have the Newmarket team come back to tie the game in the second and ultimately game was decided in the final two minutes and Holy Cross advanced to the final with the 5-4 win.
The ‘B’ Division Final Four
St Marguerite vs Marc Garneau
St. Marguerite would score five goals in the first period and ride that momentum into the championship final and face Frontenac who they tied in round robin play.
Frontenac vs Rosedale
A rematch of the final round robin game which would see Frontenac pull out a 3-2 win over Rosedale and a rematch versus St. Marguerite.
The ‘A’ Division Final
The team from Riverdale Collegiate came into the tournament as one of the top teams and over the two day tournament went undefeated and showed dominance in the last two games winning their first highschool championship 6-1 over Holy Cross with came to the event predominately with grade 9 and 10 students and are the front runner for a run at the championship in 2017
The ‘B’ Division Final
The preliminary games determined that St. Marguerite and Frontenac were the front runners in the group and treated those in attendance to a spirited final and similar to the round robin game, St. Marguerite would score in the first minute of the game and add two more goals by the end of the first period. The feisty team from Frontenac would battle back only to all short and St. Marguerite would go on to capture the school’s first ball hockey championship with a 3-2 win.
Congratulations to all of the tournament administrators, officials, teams and their coaches and players along with the fans and parents that were in attendance at the event and contributed it’s success.
The OBHA Boys & Girls Simcoe County High School Championship will be hosted in Midland and Penetanguishene on May 26 which will have 4 Boys A, & 7 Boys B and 7 Girls teams competing for their respective championship.
See you in Midland in a couple of weeks for the Simcoe County High School Championships