Ward’s U11 close remarkable season out at OMHA A summit

The South Oxford Ward’s Automotive U11A Storm finished a remarkable 2024-25 season with silver medals in the OMHA A championship final. (Contributed Photo)

Jeff Tribe, Echo Correspondent

The South Oxford Ward’s Automotive U11 Storm closed out a remarkable 2024/25 hockey season at the peak of Ontario Minor Hockey Association (OMHA) A competition.

“We were like literally an inch from the summit,” said coach Devin Homick of a 2-1 loss to the Woolwich Wildcats in the championship final Sunday, April 6 in Whitby’s Iroquois Park Sports Centre. “It just wasn’t meant to be on that day.

“We threw everything we had at them… chances, oh gosh, we had chances, but ran into a hot goalie.”

The Storm opened qualification for the lone Shamrock League entry to the OMHA draw with a perfect 8-0 record in playoff round-robin play, sweeping New Hamburg 6-1 and 7-1; Strathroy 5-1, 3-0; Dorchester 3-0, 6-1; and St. Marys 6-4, 8-3.

South Oxford then defeated the Mt. Brydges Cougars in best-of-three semi-finals 6-4 and 3-0, before wrapping up the league title with back-to-back 4-1 and 5-2 wins over the Norfolk Knights March 23 and 24 respectively.

South Oxford opened OMHA playdowns in Whitby Friday, April 4th with a comfortable 5-1 win over the Haldimand River Kings, exiting the day with a 2-0 record on strength of a 9-2 victory over the Clarington Toros. Saturday, the Storm locked up first place in its pool with a high-scoring 9-9 draw against the Orillia Terriers.

The Ward’s U11 A squad returned to the ice Sunday, April 6th at 8 a.m., skating to a 4-0 shutout victory over the Kent Cobras who had finished in second place in Pool 2. Concurrently on a different ice pad, Woolwich downed the River Kings 5-3. The semi-final results set up a championship final rematch between two teams who had met at their International Silver Stick A qualifier final earlier in the season in Collingwood, South Oxford prevailing by a narrow 1-0 margin in that outing.

“They were hungry for sure,” said Homick. “The hardest thing is to beat a good team twice, it really is. They’ve felt that defeat and are happy to turn the tide.”

The Wildcats opened scoring in the OMHA A final with roughly two minutes remaining in the first period, South Oxford tying it at one roughly that far into the second. Woolwich scored what would stand as the game-winner at the 8:55 mark, giving the Wildcats a narrow one-goal lead heading into both teams’ final 15 minutes of the season.

“We threw everything at them in the third period,” said Homick. “Lots of shots, lots of pressure, just couldn’t muster a goal.”

Two things stood out in the third, a shorthanded breakaway and rebound the Wildcats’ goalie stretched to make a desperation skate save on, and secondly, a power-play awarded with 3:50 left in regulation time. Homick pulled his goalie, enjoying a six-on-four advantage in skaters for two minutes, six-on-five for the final 1:50.

“We have some pretty good talent on our team but their goalie stood in and saved everything we threw at them.”

The Storm coaching staff had been comparing their season to climbing Mt. Everest, Tommy Lee contributing fun facts about the various stages of their virtual journey each time they eliminated an opponent, figuratively moving higher.

“The kids were upset,” said Homick. “They put out their best effort and came up, like we said, inches from the summit.”

However, despite the obvious wish to have reached the peak, no one was dismissing a season featuring an OMHA A final appearance, Shamrock League title, International Silver Stick Championship and victories at the South Oxford, Bradford and Brantford’s Wayne Gretzky International tournaments out of hand.

“I couldn’t be more proud of the whole group,” Homick concluded. “I still look back and reflect it was a perfect season.

“It was a great year, it will be hard to replicate.”