(Posted
7:30 p.m., April 10)
Gloucester Hockey Association wraps up House League season
By Fred Sherwin
Orléans Online
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The
Orléans Rush Novice B team poses with the
GHA championship trophy and banner after beating
the Leitrim Hawks 3-2 in overtime in the Saturday's
final. Photo courtesy of InAction Photography
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The
Gloucester Hockey Association wrapped up its House League
season on the weekend with the finals in 18 divisions
from Novice to Juvenile.
The
Leitrim Hawks were the big winners, taking home six championship
banners, while the Orléans Rush and the Blackburn Stingers
won two each.
The
most exciting game of the bunch was the Peewee A final
between the Stingers and the Rush which saw the Blackburn
Hamlet team come back from a three-goal deficit.
The
Stingers finished the regular season in first place with
an impressive 17-3-0 record while the Rush finished 19
points back in fourth place.
The
Orléans team had to win two of their three games in the
round robin portion of the playoffs in order to make into
the semi-finals where they managed to upset the Leitrim
Hawks 2-0.
The
Stingers were trailing 4-1 in the final with 8:37 left
in the game when Mathieu Sabourin scored the first of
two goals to narrow the deficit to 4-2. He would score
again seven seconds later to make it a one-goal game and
set up an exciting finish.
The
man of the hour was Jayden Bonhomme who scored the Stingers'
first goal with four seconds remaining in the opening
stanza. His second goal with 3:27 left in the third period,
tied the game, and then with just two seconds left on
the clock he scored the game winner to complete the dramatic
hat trick.
The
Stingers' other championship banner came in the Novice
B Division 2 final where the Stingers' Novice B2 team,
which had finished 10th in the regular season standings,
beat the Stingers' B1 squad, which had finished two places
back in 12th, 3-2 in double overtime.
Bastien
Ballantyne and Mateo Fomosa both scored in regulation
for the Stingers, while Alex Lortie scored the game winner
with 4:10 left in the second extra session. Daniel O'Brien
scored both goals for the B1 team.
The
Novice B Division 1 final also went into overtime, with
the Orléans Rush managing to win the first of two banners
for the Orléans Minor Hockey Association.
The
Rush were trailing the Leitrim Hawks 2-1 with 3:37 left
in the third period when Sam Murdock scored to tie the
contest. In overtime, Sam's brother Adam set up Theo Chan
for the game winner.
The
Rush's first goal was scored by Jason Proulx with 4:42
left to go in the second period.
The
win was sweet redemption for the Rush which finished the
regular season in second place, just one point behind
the Hawks in the overall standings.
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The
Orléans Rush Novice B team poses with the
GHA championship trophy and banner after beating
the Leitrim Hawks 3-2 in overtime in the Saturday's
final. . Photo courtesy of InAction Photography
|
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Orléans
second championship banner came in the Midget B Division
2 final where the Rush beat the Gloucester Centre Cougars
3-2.
In
other finals involving teams from the Orléans Minor Hockey
Association, the Atom A team lost 5-2 to the Leitrim Hawks;
the Peewee B team fell 2-1 also to the Hawks with Keegan
Wright scoring the lone goal for the Rush; the Bantam
B team lost 2-0 to the Russell Warriors in the Division
2 final; and the Bantam A team lost by an identical 2-0
score to the Metcalfe Jets despite the heroics of their
goaltender.
The
Gloucester Centre Minor Hockey Association also won two
banners. The Novice C team completed a memorable season
by beating the Russell Warriors 2-1 in the final on goals
by Malik Parsons and Adrian Moore.
The
Cougars only lost one regular season game on their way
to winning the league championship and they breezed through
the playoffs winning all five of their games.
The
Cougars other championship ban-ner came in the Atom C
team beat the Metcalfe Jets by a 3-1 score.
In
other the other final games, the Leitrim Hawks Novice
A2 team beat the Leitrim A1 team 3-2; in the Atom B Division
2 final the Metcalfe Jets B1 team beat the B3 team 2-1;
in the Division 1 final the Leitrim B5 team upset the
B2 team 6-4; and in the Peeewee C final the Leitrim C1
team beat the Gloucester Cougars 6-1.
In
the older divisions, the Metcalfe Jets B4 team beat the
Jets B1 squad 3-1 in the Bantam B Division 2 final; the
Orléans Rush B5 team downed the Gloucester Centre B2 team
3-2 in the Midget B Division 2 final; and the Russell
Warriors got the best of the Leitrim Hawks in the Midget
A championship game. The Hawks then returned the favour
by beating the Warriors 4-3 in the Juvenile final.
(This
story was made possible thanks to the generous support of
our local business partners.)
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