The Gloucester
Rangers Major Peewee AA team are Bell Capital Cup champions
after beating the Ottawa Valley Silver Seven in the tournament
final on Dec. 30.
The Rangers
played seven games over two days to win the Cup, scoring
36 goals along the way while giving up just eight. The streak
included four shutouts.
Their only
loss came against the South Park Panthers in the round robin
portion of the tournament.
They started
things off with an impressive 11-0 win over the Voisins de
Papineau on Friday, Dec. 28. Later the same day they downed
the St. Lawrence Steel with an equally impressive 7-0 victory.
The next morning they beat the Sudbury Wolves by a 6-0 score.
That's 23 goals for and no goals against in three game.
The Rangers
appeared to be firing on all cylinders when they ran into
an equally talented South Hills Panthers team from Bethel
Park, Pennsylvania. The result was a 4-1 loss.
In a display
of the type resilience they've shown all season long, the
Rangers managed to bounce back to beat the Flamborough Sabres
5-0 in the quarterfinals which set up a rematch with the Panthers
in the semis.
The second
game between the two combatants turned out to be a hard fought
battle. With a trip to the Canadian Tire Centre on the line,
the Rangers found themselves trailing the Panthers 3-2 four
minutes into the third period.
After tying
the game on a power play goal by Deklyn Campbell, the Rangers
took advantage of another man advantage opportunity late in
the game to score the go ahead goal. The young man responsible
for the eventual game winner was Benjamin Cormier.
Their opponents
in the final was a familiar foe. The Rangers have played the
Silver Seven three times during the first half of the Hockey
Eastern Ontario (HEO) regualr season, beating them twice and
losing once..
After a
scoreless first period in the final, the Rangers managed to
pot a pair of goals in the second stanza on shots from Campbell
and Cormier with each setting up the other.
The Silver
Seven cut the Rangers' lead in half early in the third, but
they were unable to get the equalizer against a Gloucester's
stubburn defence. The result was the Rangers second tournament
win of the season. They won the Capital Gold Rush tournament
in late September.
The team
is currently tied for first place in the HEO regular season
standings with the Seaway Valley Rapids, however, they have
a game in hand. A win or a tie in their next game would move
them into first place..
(This
story was made possible thanks to the generous support of
our local business partners.)