U10 A Boys represent Canada, win CCM Nations Cup

The Dunny’s Source For Sports U10 A Boys St. Marys Rock won the gold medal while wearing Canadian jerseys at the CCM Nations Cup Nov. 28-30 in Detroit, Mich, including a 5-3 win in the finals and shutting out opponents 23-0 in four round-robin games. Pictured laying in front, from left to right, are Everett Douglas and Jack Becker. In the middle row, from left, are Quinn Stewart, Ben Hemstock, Zac Bes, Brody Pearson, Ryker Harrison, Callum Palmer, Landon Mcintosh, Max Bilyea, Maclean Ross, Zach Rasenberg, Jacob Zwambag, Nicholas Madsen and Carter Van Wieren. In the back row, from left, are Chris Van Wieren, Drew Pearson, Rod Harrison and Dan Mcintosh.

By Spencer Seymour

The Dunny’s Source For Sports U10 A Boys St. Marys Rock captured gold while wearing a Canadian jersey as one of the Canadian teams competing at the CCM Nations Cup in Detroit, Mich., held Nov. 28-30.

According to head coach Rod Harrison, the Rock was the talk of the tournament by the final day.

“We’re super proud of the boys,” Harrison said. “To dig in and compete in five games over three days, and to bring it every single time, was really impressive. There were people talking about how good we were, so we developed a good following by the end of the weekend. It was a proud moment to see a lot of the things we’ve practiced come out, and their effort and how they never gave up. And with Canada on the front of the jersey, it was easy to motivate the boys to do it for the front of the jersey and for the guy sitting next to you.”

The Rock was incredibly dominant during the four-game round-robin, scoring 23 goals and not allowing a single goal during the first four games. Harrison noted the team’s goaltending was stellar and backstopped a great performance by every St. Marys skater.

“Our goaltending was unreal,” Harrison said. “We were pretty dominant most of the time, but both guys made the big saves we needed them to. They were a bit of a game-changer at times. Our breakout was good, our neutral-zone play was good and our forecheck was pretty much unstoppable. We gave teams no time and space. Our F-three was jumping on the far side, our F-two was taking the walls away and our F-one was hard on the puck.”

St. Marys emerged as the top Canadian seed and took on the top American seed, Toledo Cherokee, in the gold-medal game. After Toledo opened the scoring at the 8:37 mark of the first period, it took just 31 seconds for the Rock to respond, with Nicholas Madsen firing home an unassisted goal to tie the game 1-1. Just over four-and-a-half minutes later, Zac Bes put St. Marys up by a goal, with the lone assist by Jacob Zwambag.

Toledo scored the only goal of the second frame, tying the game at two apiece heading into the third. Before four minutes had passed, the Rock had tallied two goals in 34 seconds, firstly with an unassisted goal by Max Bilyea, then by MacLean Ross with assists going to Quinn Stewart and Carter Van Wieren. Landon McIntosh added an unassisted goal, with Toledo managing to bring the game back to within two.

Harrison credited the team’s puck movement and ability to handle a physical championship game en route to their 5-3 gold-medal-winning victory.

“They moved the puck really well. They were passing it, playing as a team and protecting each other. There were a couple of scrums where it was good to see our boys helping other guys out. And then some of our bigger guys, like Carter (Van Wieren), Zach (Rasenberg) and Ryker (Harrison), when it got physical, they stepped up and showed them that we were bigger and stronger, but I was trying to harness them and just focus on playing hockey and not getting caught up in the silliness.

“They just kept bringing it, which traditionally, when we get into that physical style of game, sometimes we fade away,” continued Rod Harrison. “But we just elevated our game and kept taking it to them. A couple of guys got injured, but they stuck around and fought through it and pushed through some of the dirty hits.”

Rod Harrison also noted the team showed great composure in a loud, boisterous environment.

“A couple of our guys got overwhelmed a little bit by the energy in there, but they really bounced back,” he said. “They pushed through and they played hard, and that’s the kind of resilience that we’ve built into the boys over the last year and a half that we’ve had them. Our team identity is to be a pest, and we never gave up and never went away.

“A couple of boys on the bench said, ‘I think we have more fans than the Lincolns.’ They were just caught up in the moment, and as much as it was a distraction, I was impressed they went out there and did the job they needed to. We were pushing them to concentrate on the task at hand and they did that. They jumped over the boards, got in the zone and really harnessed the energy.”

Arguably, the most vital key to the team’s success, the coach said, was every member of the Rock contributing precisely what their team needed from them.

“Everyone had a job, whether it was a wall chip, a good pass, a hard back-check, a big energy play, or goals or assists,” said Rod Harrison. “There was no individualism at all. We really preach to them to stay within their comfort zone; don’t try to do too much. We had secondary scoring all the way through the tournament. I don’t think anyone took any shifts off the whole weekend. We had guys who make a really good wall play in the defensive zone that creates time and space, or a guy has a strong forecheck; those guys deserve just as much recognition and credit as those who score.”