Submitted by Mike Costigan - Team Reporter
As fate would have it the Minor Atom Shamrocks were not to be denied in their pursuit of winning their home tournament… the 45th Annual Hespeler Olympic Hockey Tournament! Playing their best hockey of late, the Shamrocks were looking to continue their winning ways in the annual community event. The challenge in front of them would be to out play solid teams that included the Brampton Battalion, Owen Sound Attack, and cross town rival, Cambridge Hawks.
In their tournament opener, the “rocks” faced the Owen Sound Attack and despite having numerous chances to score, by games end a scoreless draw was all that Hespeler could take away. With bragging rights on the line, the Shamrocks faced off against cross town rival Cambridge, in their second game. Hespeler scored twice in each of the first two periods and once in the third to secure a 3-2 victory in a game of two evenly matched teams.
In their last game of the round robin format, the Shamrocks faced a familiar opponent from Brampton and despite holding the upper hand in regular season play, the Battalion were motivated to avenge previous losses. That motivation proved to be enough as Brampton handed the rocks a convincing 4-1 defeat and with the loss the Shamrocks also lost control of their own fate in advancing to the tournament final. However by the end of regular tournament play, the cards fell in the Shamrocks favour and they earned a back door entrance to the final game.
Learning to win is a process and teaching that has been the approach taken by the Shamrocks coaching staff since the start of the season. With some tough lessons learned, the Shamrocks seized the opportunity in front of them, defeating a highly toughted Owen Sound team in the final 3-0.
It was a complete team effort and their best of the season earning them their first tournament title….Champions of the Hespeler Olympic Hockey Tournament!
