Gold for U13 AAA Hounds
Head coach Craig Kennedy and the Under 13 AAA Soo Jr. Greyhounds struck gold at the recent 32nd annual Hamilton Steel Hockey Classic.
The Red and White from Sault Ste. Marie went 2-1-1 in the preliminary round with wins over Guelph and Windsor mixed in with a tie against Oakland and a loss to Buffalo.
Then it got even better.
The U13 AAA Jr. Greyhounds defeated Waterloo 2-0 in the quarter finals, skated to a 1-0 upset of the highly touted Don Mills Flyers in the semi-finals before winning gold with a 4-3 double overtime triumph over Guelph.
Andrew Pusch had two goals for the Soo in the gold medal match while Corbin Watson had the tying goal and Blake Kennedy connected for the OT winner.
Aforementioned head coach Craig Kennedy relayed to Hockey News North that “Wyatt Meakin and Joey Spina provided outstanding goaltending all weekend long. The defence corps made up of Nelson Shoemaker, Parker Shoemaker, Aiden Hurley, Emmett Thompson, Maleck Tremblay Cronin and Blake Neufeld only allowed five even strength goals all weekend long. The forward group of Patrick Cain, Aiden McLean, Cade Lane, Max Maki, Corbin Watson, Andrew Pusch, Ryder Demovich, Garson Robertson, Blake Kennedy and Blake Greco provided a combination of timely scoring and tight checking all weekend long.”
The Sault Ste. Marie squad took the hard road to glory by having to win three tough contests on championship day to take home the crown.
“This was a determined bunch of young men who displayed a great deal of belief in themselves and each other and were not going to be denied,” Kennedy told Hockey News North. “It was a total team effort where every player left everything they had on the ice and put the team ahead of any self interests. The players and staff are proud to be from Sault Ste Marie and are privileged to wear the Soo Greyhound uniform.”
Besides Kennedy, other members of the staff include assistant coaches Joe Greco, Dave Patriquin, Greg Amadio , Steve Demidovich , Shaun Meakin and Mark Rossetto and manager James Neufeld.
