On Wednesday March 19th the Orangeville Flyers Bantam AE team capped a spectacular season by winning the OMHA Championship.
Having won 5-1 and 4-2 in the first two games of the Finals, the Flyers faced Oakville in game 3, hoping close out the season with a championship-clinching victory on home ice..
The game was tightly contested for the first ten minutes of the game until Liam Raymond found the back of the net at 3:09, deking five hole on the goalie after a breakaway pass from Cameron Dunkerley.
Less than a minute later, with the Flyers pressing hard, Ben VanZant retrieved his own rebound and went top shelf to extend the lead to 2-0.
The Flyers weren’t done yet. With just 16 seconds left on the clock, John Viveiros fed a wide open Brandon Amos in the slot, and Amos made no mistake, flipping it home for a 3-0 lead at the end of the first.
The second saw Oakville try to mount a comeback, but the Flyers were simply too strong. The boys continued to press the attack, and only several spectacular saves by the Oakville goalie kept the Rangers in the game. After a brief flurry of activity in the Flyers end, defenseman Caleb Young muscled his way out of the corner and spotted Raymond streaking up the middle. Young fired a hard stretch pass half the length of the ice right onto the tape, springing Raymond on his second breakaway. Raymond replicated his earlier move, going between the keepers legs to extend the lead to 4-0.
Oakville was able to close the gap to 4-1 on the power play goal by Nicholas Hardy late in the second. Following the break, however, a determined energized Flyers squad took to the ice with victory on their minds. Orangeville continued its dominant play down low, getting the puck deep and cycling for minutes at a time. As the clock ran down, the significance of their accomplishment finally seemed to sink in and the bench exploded as the celebration spilled out onto the ice.
Matty Jennings and Cameron O’Gorman were both solid between the pipes for the Flyers during the series. Solid defense was provided by the quintet of Brett Chiasson, Cameron Dunkerley, Patrick Vaughan, John Viveiros and Caleb Young, with forwards Brandon Amos, Noah Harding, Ty Inglis, Nick Graham, Dallas Montgomery, Liam Raymond, Tyler Rowsell, Antonio Traetto, and Ben VanZant dominant on the offensive side of the puck.
The boys would like to thank their parents for their commitment and support all season long. Thanks also to the coaching staff: Head Coach Blair Inglis, Assistant Coaches John Viveiros and Larry Vaughan, Trainer Jason Dunkerley, Assistant Trainer Rich Raymond, and Manager Paul VanZant for the many hours they put in to make this season such a tremendous success.
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The OMHA Championship was the crowning achievement on what has been a truly phenomenal season for the Bantam AE Flyers. The team played a total of 69 games, finishing with a remarkable record of 65-3-1.
Along the way, the Flyers won all five of the tournaments in which they played, including the prestigious International Silver Stick Championship in January. Twenty five tournament games were played during that stretch, which the boys won by a combined total of 145 goals for, versus only 22 goals against.
An outstanding regular season record of 24-3-1 propelled the Flyers to the top of the TriCounty standings, and the number one seed in the OMHA playdowns. The Flyers would sweep the preliminaries, as they would their quarter finals series with Brampton. The Flyers would then dispatch Chatham-Kent in three, shutting out the Cobras by scores of 11-0, 8-0 and 5-0, before eliminating the Rangers in three in the finals for a perfect 15-0 in the playoffs.
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The season by the stats:
69 games played
65 wins
3 losses
1 tie
24-3-1 in league play
25-0 in tournament play
15-0 in the playoffs
1-0 in exhibition play
41 game winning streak to finish the season
415 goals for – 6.01 GFA
80 goals against – 1.16 GAA
28 shutouts
8 players with 20+ goals
8 players with 50+ points
3 players with 100+ points
2 players with 50+ goals
Every position player had more than 20 points
5 tournament victories – undefeated in tournament play!
International Silver Stick Champions!
OMHA Champions!
