U9 MD Rock ride ‘winning mentality’ to Angus tournament gold
- Mar 18
- 3 min read
By Spencer Seymour
The Finnbilt Construction U9 MD St. Marys Rock earned the gold medal at the Essa Eagles John Prince Memorial Tournament March 6-8 in Angus.
Head coach Brett Graham attributed the tournament win to the team’s focused mental approach throughout the weekend.
“The kids came into the tournament with a winning mentality and worked hard every shift and every game of the tournament,” Graham told the Independent. “Every single player worked hard and contributed to the tournament win. We are very proud of the kids, and it was a very memorable tournament.”
The Rock opened the tournament with a 7-1 win over the Coldwater Wildcats in the first of three round-robin games, a win that Graham called one of the team’s best showings all year.
“This game against Coldwater was one of the most complete games our team has played all season. It was easily the best passing game our team has had all season. Jackson (Monisit-Brown) was unstoppable in this game with countless highlight-reel plays, and he had five goals, including the game-winner.”
Ian Avey and Nate Campbell also scored for St. Marys.
The Rock edged out the Parry Sound Shamrocks 3-2 in their second game, with goals by Avey, Will Graham and Elly Kittmer.
St. Marys then blanked the host Essa Eagles, with Monisit-Brown scoring a pair and Campbell, Marcus Horenberg and Cooper Mitchell also chipping in goals. Mitchell’s goal came off a “highlight-reel breakaway” after a tape-to-tape pass through the neutral zone by Angus Palmer, while Campbell’s goal came on a great individual effort with two defenders draped on Campbell’s back.
Their undefeated round-robin set the Rock up to play the Brampton 45’s in the gold medal game, which they won 1-0 in overtime.
The bench boss noted it was a goaltender’s duel in the championship game, with both teams being denied by strong play in both nets.
“This was an unbelievable hockey game from start to finish,” Brett Graham said. “There was excellent goaltending on both sides and chances from both teams throughout the game. Mason (Krauskopf) was stellar between the pipes for us with many unbelievable saves that kept us tied until the end of regulation.”
Horenberg had a great one-time opportunity off the draw and a partial breakaway that just couldn’t quite find the back of the net. After regulation expired, a five-minute three-on-three, sudden-death overtime was needed to break the tie.
During the extra frame, the Rock successfully killed off a penalty, after which a rush down the ice by a 45’s forward was defended perfectly by Palmer, a massive save was made by Mason Krauskopf and a hard backcheck by Will Graham led to the eventual tournament-winning goal. A head-man pass by Will Graham to Monisit-Brown led him down the ice on a one-on-two where a rocket of a shot beat the Brampton goalie for the win.
Brett Graham was thrilled with his team’s execution and consistency throughout the entire tournament.
“Before going into the tournament, we talked about playing our game, which includes playing hard, forechecking, backchecking, taking away time and space, and putting pressure on their defenders. The team played every game hard and didn’t take their foot off the gas. We were able to keep defenders to the outside, make good passes and get pucks out at our blueline.
“In the Rock Cup tournament a month ago, we lost in the gold-medal game to St. Thomas,” Brett Graham continued. “In that game, a couple quick goals in the third by St. Thomas gave them momentum, and we stopped playing our game. We didn’t play the entire game hard that day. We reminded the kids that we need to work hard every shift in order to be successful and win. They followed the game plan to a tee.”
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