The Eastern Ontario Wild Major Bantam AAA Team’s storybook season continues after posting a 3-1 win over the Ottawa Senators in Playoff Final action this past Tuesday night at the Casselman Arena. They were crowned the OEMHL AAA Major Bantam League Champions and will represent the ODHA/ODMHA at the All-Ontario Provincial Championships. The Wild took the seven point series by a count of 7-3 over the Sens, who finished second to the Wild during the regular season.
The Finals lived up to everyone’s expectations as both teams thrilled the crowds with highly skilled and fast paced action. Spectators had to continually remind themselves that they were watching 14-15 year old players compete. Three (3) of the games ended up in draws, with game # 4 tied by the Wild with 30 seconds remaining in the game. The Wild’s head coach, Steve Malette, stated: “Good teams find a way to win and we have learned that you must play hard between the whistles and continue to play until the final buzzer sounds.”
With a roster that has not changed in the past 2 seasons, this team pursued the team motto that “Success is a Choice!” by working to achieve the Team’s ultimate goal of making it to the Provincials. Last year’s team was denied the happy ending as they were upset in the finals, but this year’s team was determined to not let history repeat itself. This achievement would not have been possible without the continual hard work and commitment as a team.
This championship marks only the second time a Wild team has been crowned OEMHL playoff champs. The only other Wild team to do so was the 2007-08 Minor Bantam team in the inaugural OEMHL AAA season.
The Major Bantam Wild finished the 2011/12 season in first place with 47 points after posting an amazing win-loss-tie record of 23-4-1. The team also won two tournaments this season, the Woodchuck Classic AAA Tournament and the Bantam Icefest AAA Tournament, and were also conference semi-finalists in the Toronto Marlies AAA Holiday Classic Tournament.
The Team’s first game at the Provincials is set for Monday March 26, 2012 at 11:00am when they will face-off against the representative of the Northern Ontario Hockey Association (NOHA). We wish the team the best of luck at the Provincials and we can rest assured that the OEMHL/ODMHA/ODHA will be well represented by this Wild Team!
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