Two Niagara-on-the-Lake rep hockey teams that competed in last weekend’s provincial championships encountered some high-calibre opposition while turning in some exciting performances to cap off their season.
At the Ontario Minor Hockey Association tier 2 championships in Halton Hills, the U15 NOTL Wolves rode a strong team performance and Tomas Nolan’s stellar goaltending to a berth in the semifinals, where they lost a close match 4-2 to the eventual champions the Frontenac Flyers.
And after two tough round-robin losses, the U13 Wolves lost a heartbreaker 4-3 in overtime to the Bruce Grey Bulls on Saturday morning. That win put the Bulls into the knockout round, where they lost in the semifinals.
U15 coach Rich Andres was immensely proud of his team’s performance.
“They battled right to the end and played their hearts out,” he told The Lake Report. “They really did leave everything out on the ice.”
“We were a very hard-working group. We played as a team and got contributions from each and every player at different times of the season.”
Eight teams qualified for the U15 tournament but only the top two in each of two divisions advanced to the semifinal round.
Following an opening game loss to the South Grey Spartans on Friday, the Wolves bounced back Saturday morning with Nolan’s 2-0 shutout of Strathroy.
Easton VanBerkel had the winning goal and Dean Olsen added an empty netter with one second left to play.
That set up game 3 Saturday night against Sturgeon Lake, where a tie would guarantee second place and a spot in the semis.
Players, coaches and parents from the U13 Wolves, who already had been eliminated from competition with their OT loss, joined the crowd to cheer on the U15 team in what turned out to be a real barn-burner finish.
“We went up early in the second period on a great individual effort by Henry Buffington,” Andres said. “He outraced two defenders, broke in under pressure and beat the goalie to open the scoring.”
But Sturgeon Lake fought back to take a 2-1 lead, forcing NOTL to try to salvage a tie by pulling the goalie with a bit over two minutes to play.
Sturgeon Lake had three chances to score on NOTL’s open net shot but missed.
Then, “with 53 seconds left Jake VanSpronsen’s rocket shot from the point found the net through a screen to tie the game and put us in a position to advance,” Andres said.
Sturgeon Lake didn’t give up, pulling their goalie and putting immense pressure on NOTL.
That’s when the Wolves’ goalie came through again.
Andres noted, “With three seconds left, in a mad scramble around our goal, the puck popped out to one of their players wide open on the left side with our net seemingly wide open.”
“The player shot at the empty net, but Tomas Nolan sprawled with his stick behind him to somehow keep the puck out of the net. That save was as good as any save made in any hockey league this year, and it meant we would be playing in the OMHA semifinals on Sunday.”
On Sunday morning, the Wolves faced Frontenac and were outshot by a wide margin, but Nolan again kept them in the game.
Thanks to goals by Cian Doyle and Olsen, NOTL was only down 2-1 midway through the final period but some tough calls led to two late goals and the Flyers 4-2 win, Andres said.
“Nolan was an absolute game changer in net and Olsen carried our offence at times, but our success really was a team effort. The coaches believed in this group from the beginning, but we exceeded almost everyone’s expectations throughout the season,” he added.
“Winning our league playoffs and getting to the semifinals at the OMHAs is a testament to our boys’ work ethic and commitment, they certainly made their families, the coaches and NOTL Minor Hockey very proud.”
U13 coach Gary Friesen noted that with 12 teams in their tourney, NOTL’s first two games (both losses) were really to determine seeding.
“From the start, we had our sights set on Saturday, knowing that was the day that truly mattered with elimination on the line,” he said.
“We faced a very beatable Bruce Grey Bulls team in the play-in game and found ourselves in a strong position, leading 3-2 late in the third,” Friesen added.
“Unfortunately, we gave up the tying goal with just 20 seconds remaining. From there, the game went to overtime, where we ultimately came up short, bringing our season to an end.”
When they qualified for the OMHA tourney by winning the Niagara District title, Friesen and his coaching staff knew they would face some tough competition.
“We went in with the attitude of ‘Let’s go there and just give it our all.’ There were some good teams, we gave everything we had and the kids should be proud,” he said.
It was a hectic hockey weekend for the Friesen family.
After coaching the U13s and cheering on the U15s, Friesen headed to Whitby on Sunday morning to watch his younger son Brock and his U10 Garden City Falcons AA team competing in their OMHA tournament east of Toronto in Whitby.
Brock and fellow NOTL resident Auston Cwiertniewski had a memorable season as their team went 25-1, losing only one regular season game.
They made it to the OMHA semifinal, losing 5-4 in overtime to the host Whitby Wildcats, who went on to win the title.
