U13 A Boys capture gold at Rock Cup tournament

The St. Marys Firefighters U13 A Boys St. Marys Rock won the gold medal at the Rock Cup tournament in St. Marys Feb. 6-8. Pictured in the front row, from left to right, are Matthew McCarty and Luke Saville. In the middle row, from left, are Deon Keller, Jack Parsons, Gavin Santagapita, Talon Nov, Owen Robinson, Keaton Ward, Myles Havens, Charles Coppins, Attley Ehgoetz and Joey Brown. In the back row, from left, are Harper Murrell, Mark Monteith, Talan Ward, Hudson Monteith, Theo Keller, Liam Showers, Emmett Parkinson, Jeremy Saville and Jonathan Ward.

By Spencer Seymour

The St. Marys Firefighters U13 A Boys St. Marys Rock earned the top prize at the Rock Cup tournament in St. Marys Feb. 6-8.

Coach Jonathan Ward told the Independent the team’s tournament win was cathartic for the group.

“The boys performed well,” said Ward. “Being in our home arena, I think they felt a little bit of extra pressure and wanted to win because it was a home tournament, and we’ve lost the last couple in the semis and finals. Every single one of them is very passionate. They care a lot about winning. It shows the character they have and the care that they have for the game. They love coming to play, and they love winning.”

After going unbeaten through the three-game round-robin, the Rock faced the Ausable Valley Coyotes in the semi-finals, with Ward crediting the group for staying focused all game long.

“Ausable Valley is a team we’ve played six or seven times,” Ward said. “And sometimes, you get a little complacent when you play the same team over and over again, but they didn’t do that at all. They went out, they worked hard, moved the puck really well, worked as a team and they put the pedal down the whole time.”

Keaton Ward got the scoring started with four minutes and 40 seconds left in the first before the Coyotes tied the game at one apiece. The Rock shut Ausable Valley down the rest of the game, and got goals from Myles Havens, Charles Coppins and Talan Ward to secure a 4-1 victory and a spot in the finals.

Their opponent in the gold-medal game was the Southwest Admirals, who jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the opening period, but Talan Ward got the game tied back up with just 22 seconds left in the period. Southwest retook a one-goal lead and held it until the 8:43 mark of the third when Talon Nov tied the game at 2-2. Southwest regained the lead by scoring with just under six minutes left on the clock, but once again, the Rock found an equalizer, this time off the stick of Attley Ehgoetz with two minutes and 20 seconds left in the third.

Tied at three, the game entered overtime and St. Marys got the game-winner from Owen Leslie-Robinson with 4:44 left in overtime.

Jonathan praised the team for their resilience throughout the finals, leading to the Rock clawing back after falling behind three times.

“They did well composing themselves in tough situations,” Jonathan Ward said. “That final game, they really fought hard and came back from being down twice and came back in overtime and scored the final goal to win it. It was impressive to see a group of boys, that group of 12-year-olds, compose themselves, bring themselves back together and continue to overcome that sort of pressure.”

Jonathan Ward added that resiliency was a running theme of the weekend, as the Rock was fighting through a variety of obstacles that made the tournament even more difficult.

“I was nervous because we had a lot of kids with bumps and bruises, but nobody was missing any shifts. Everybody was putting in the time and the work and overcoming their bumps and bruises and emotions. They didn’t quit. They’ve been in that situation a few times before and proved that they can continue to deal with that sort of pressure.”