Double gold for Midget Hawks at Silver Stick tournament

February 4, 2016 · 0 Comments

By Jake Courtepatte
The Caledon Hawks organization pulled off an incredible feat in Sarnia recently, skating away with two International Silver Stick titles over the course of only a few hours.
Both the Midget A and Midget AA Hawks took on the top teams from across Canada and the United States and came away the victors, just two weeks after winning their respected regional tournaments to guarantee a spot on minor hockey’s biggest stage.
The As cruised through round-robin play, first putting up big numbers against two of the best squads Pennsylvania had to offer, the Leigh Valley Phantoms and the Haverford Hawks. A 3-0 shutout for goaltender Justin Lowe in game three over the Quinte West Hawks set up a semifinal match up with Southern Ontario’s Erindale Spitfires, the first closely-contested game for the Hawks so far, squeaking out a 4-2 win and a trip to the final.
There the Hawks handled the Thorold Blackhawks with ease, going out in style with an 8-1 championship win. Goalies Lowe and Dalton Cooke allowed only seven goals through the five games of the tournament, and were both acknowledged with nods on the tournament all-star team.
They were joined by their teammate, defenceman Anthony Esteves. Congratulations go out as well to Jonathan Sunseri, Nicolas Saville, Gabe Baldassarra, Sam Siskos, Luke Caleca, Michael Carnevale, Nicholas Palumbo, Tyler Halls, Steve Luongo, Rocco Marinaccio, Ryan Griffin, Tyler Giancos and Jake Reid.
For the AA Hawks, it was a similar path to the winner’s circle. Going undefeated in the round robin, they met the Oakland Jr. Grizzlies in Sunday’s semifinal, pulling together a 3-2 win.
Back on the ice later that afternoon, they came out on top 4-3 over the St. Clair Shores Saints, capturing the Hawks’ second Silver Stick title of the afternoon.
An impressive list of hardware followed as well, including the Lyle Kirk Memorial Award for best attitude and sportsmanship, the John Slobodnik Award for least penalty minutes, MVP honours for Nicholas Barbosa, and induction to the tournament all-star team for both Barbosa and Franco Zuccato.
And perhaps the greatest award of all? Both teams will have their names added permanently into the Hockey Hall of Fame.