Bulldogs host Provincial championships

July 25, 2014 · 0 Comments

Mayor Marolyn Morrison dropped the ceremonial first ball in the recent 2014 Ontario Ball Hockey Federation (OBHF) Atom/Peewee Provincial Minor Championships. Brandon Hillier of the Milton Mad Men and Shane Thrower of the atom Caledon Bulldogs took the faceoff. Morrison was flanked by Dave Eccleston and Frank Rocca of the host Bulldogs and Under-16 Team Canada members Ryan Nicholson, Daniel Heelers and Ryan Eccleston.
Photo by Bill Rea

By Bill Rea
It was something of a feather in the cap of the Caledon Bulldogs, as they recently hosted the Provincial championships in three ball hockey divisions.
And the hosts celebrated by winning in two of them.
Mayor Marolyn Morrison and members of the U16 Team Canada Ball Hockey squad were on hand at the arena in Caledon East Arena for the opening ceremonies of the weekend tournament, which featured more than 30 teams competing at the atom, peewee and bantam levels.
The atom team from Caledon just missed advancing from the first round. In the end, the Oakville Rangers prevailed 7-1 over the Milton Mad Dogs to take the hardware.
The peewee Bulldogs needed overtime to prevail in their championship match against the Oakville Rangers. Andrew DoPaco scored an amazing overtime goal on a great rush from Jada Christian and Thomas McKeown to win the first ever crown for Caledon.
They had a bit of a grind to get there. They won their first match 3-1 over the Guelph Cyclones, but faced the Oakville crew in their second outing and endured a 6-2 loss. Their third match went a lot better, and they had a 7-1 victory at the expense of the Georgetown Gladiators to prove it.
The Bulldogs had to face the Guelph crew to get into the championship game, and they ended up doubling them 6-3 for the berth.
The bantam final again saw the Bulldogs facing their foes from Oakville, and the Caledon organization winning its second Provincial title.
Caledon led from start to finish with a 4-2 win over Oakville, led by Ryan Nicholson.
The Oakville squad had gone undefeated throughout the season, and things were shaping up the same way at the tournament as they cruised through their two games of the opening round with a 6-3 win over their Bulldog hosts, and a 4-2 doubling of the Guelph crew.
The bantams will now travel to Winnipeg to represent Ontario at the National Ball Hockey Tournament Aug. 1 to 4.