Redmen victorious at home in Silver Stick tournament

January 18, 2017 · 0 Comments

By Jake Courtepatte

The Newmarket Redmen hosted teams from across North America in last weekend’s International Silver Stick tournament, managing to win on home ice in the Minor Midget A division.
Defeating the Credit Valley Phantoms and New Mexico Ice Wolves to reach the playdown stage at the Magna Centre, the Redmen took down the Boulder Bison in the quarterfinals before meeting the Phantoms once again in the semis.
A close 2 – 1 score set up a championship match with the New Hamburg Huskies at Ray Twinney, winning 4 – 2 as the only home team to make their division’s final.
Holding on to a 3 – 0 lead thanks to goals from Josh Humphrey, Mitchell Bruce, and Shane Mariner, New Hamburg made it interesting taking the score to 3 -2 before Aiden Smith sent the game out of reach.
The largest ice hockey tournament in the world, Newmarket hosted a total of 76 teams across four divisions in the three-day event, gaining free entry to the tournament as the hosts.
In Minor Bantam A action, the Aurora Tigers and the Redmen played to a 1 – 1 tie in the division’s opening game, while the Tigers went on to also tie the Halton Hills Thunder and defeat the Casselman Embrun Ice Dogs to finish the round robin 1-1-2.
Despite a three way tie for first place in the division, the Tigers failed to advance due to a tiebreaker for most goals scored. The Ice Dogs went on to win the championship over the Barrie Jr. Colts.
The Minor Bantam AA division saw the Ted Reeve Thunder top the Motor City Machine 6 – 1.
Three second period goals gave the North York Knights enough breathing room for a 5 – 2 win over the Oakville Rangers in the Minor PeeWee AA division, while the Minor PeeWee A’s had the Barrie Colts shut out the Essex Ravens by a score of 4 – 0.
In the Minor Atom AA division, it took overtime for the Orangeville Flyers to score the only goal of a 1 – 0 game over the York Toros, while the Essex Ravens came from behind to defeat the Whitby Wildcats 3 – 2 in Minor Atom A.