Tri-County gold for minor atom AE and midget AE Hawks

April 1, 2015 · 0 Comments

By Jake Courtepatte
With spring on the doorstep, another season comes to a close for the Caledon Minor Hockey Association.
Two Caledon teams topped the Tri-County division this season, with an impressive six making it all the way to the finals.
The minor atom AE Hawks were the first to bring a championship back to Caledon, dominating their Tri-County bracket with a 6-0 record.
They met the Stoney Creek Warriors in the final series, a surprise team that finished with a record under .500 in the regular season. A hard-fought series had both teams needing one win to clinch in Game 5, where the Hawks squeaked out a 4-3 victory.
It was a tougher route for the midget AE Hawks, who defeated Guelph in five games to clinch a matchup with the Halton Hills Thunder in the finals. After playing to a 1-1 series tie, they swiftly took care of business in the final two games, ending the series with decisive 7-1 and 6-1 victories.
Among the four other teams to reach the Tri-County finals were the minor bantam AE’s, whose unlikely comeback was spoiled by a close deciding game.
Down five points to one in their series with the Brampton 45s, they began to climb out of their hole when the 45s needed only a tie to end it.
Back-to-back wins had the series tied at five and in a “do-or-die” scenario, largely thanks to the grittiness of Jackson Keelan both offensively and defensively, as well as two goals from Tyler Skubic in Game 5, coming 20 seconds apart.
But their offence was shut down once again in Game 6, when they tried desperately to find the tying goal in an eventual 2-1 losing effort.
The top-tiered AA program experienced some success at the provincial level, sending two teams through a competitive OMHA schedule in March.
It was a smooth ride to the finals for the minor bantam AAs, going perfect in Tri-County divisional play before losing just one game on the way to facing the Barrie Colts in the championship.
Unfortunately, the powerhouse Colts’ goaltending was just too much for the Hawks, as they managed only one goal in a three-game sweep.
The minor midget AAs also dominated their circuit, going almost six weeks without a loss on their way to the OMHA semifinals.
Brought back down to earth by a powerful Burlington Eagles squad, they fell in three out of four games, all one-goal losses.

The minor bantam AE Hawks were one of six Hawks teams to reach the Tri-Country finals this season. They lost the first-to-six series 7 – 5 to the Brampton 45s.