Written by Barry Culmer
Fresh from their exciting victory in the Regional Silver Stick, the Kincardine Kinucks Legion Peewee Rep boys headed across the border to Port Huron from 21 to 24 January for the International Silver Stick Finals. Not renowned for being awake for early morning games, they started with a 7 am face off against the New Hartford Pee Wees from New York. Parents and supporters were fortified by Tim Horton’s American extra large size coffee. Despite the early hour, the unfamiliar surroundings of a big arena and different US offside rules, the Kinucks were on their game and matched the New Yorkers in a close game in the first two periods. A turning point came at the end of the second, with an awesome save by Joey Doyle on a penalty shot. Then in the third Kincardine grabbed three goals, with only one late goal in reply from New Hartford, for a 3-1 win.
The next two games in the pool round were against Canadian opposition, the West London Hawks and the Renfrew Timberwolves from the Ottawa area. The Kinucks had the edge throughout against the Hawks, taking a 3-2 lead into the third period before again stepping up their game in the third to run out with a 5-2 win. Getting used to the early starts, a 7.30am game against Renfrew proved to be no obstacle with the boys chalking up an 8-3 victory for first place in their pool.
The excitement mounted for the semi-final against another Ottawa team, the Sting. This one was also notable for an off ice battle for the noisiest supporters. A strong performance on the ice by the Kinucks gave them an impressive 3-0 victory in a fast-paced game that silenced the Sting cheerleaders.
And so to the big one, the Silver Stick final against the Strathroy Jr Rockets who were also unbeaten so far in the tournament. In the big main arena, the boys came onto the ice individually in NHL style through smoke and fire and with their names and numbers projected onto the ice. Cool! The show and the Canadian and US national anthems got the emotions running for players, coaches and supporters alike. Facing a quick, strong forechecking Strathroy team, Kincardine twice found themselves a goal behind for the first time in the tournament but pulled back each time to go into the third period tied up at 2-2. As they had done in the Regional Silver Stick the whole team dug deep and pulled out the winning goal just under two minutes from the end for a phenomenal win. ‘We Are The Champions’ blasted out around the arena as the boys proudly picked up their medals, the banner, the trophy and the coveted Silver Stick before doing a lap of honour.
Three of the team picked up individual awards: Joey Doyle for outstanding goalie of the Tournament, and Scott McFarlan and Garret McFadden named to the Tournament All Star Team while also being the highest points scorers in the Peewee B division. The big feature of the boys’ game was their teamwork. Everyone else on the team, including goalie Ethan Primeau, defencemen Marshall Smith, Evan Brown and Dalton Hayes, and forwards Brett Burrows, Ethan Skinner, Ethan Long, Sam Culmer, Kurt Dunsbier and Shane Vollmer played key roles in the win – a fantastic achievement boys! A huge thank you too to the coaching team of Brian Royle, Lou Battaino, Curtis Chaput and Dane Dunlop for helping to raise the bar on the team’s performance and for giving the boys an experience they’ll never forget.