U15C Trail Blazers are Ontario champions

The Talbot Trail Blazers U15C team rode a five-game winning streak to the Ontario U15 Tier 2 Championship over the Easter weekend, capping it off with an exciting 4-1 victory over Goderich to capture the Red Hat.

Head coach Jay Ottley was excited about this team’s victory, saying that the boys worked extremely hard over the course of the season to make their dream a reality.

“These kids fought adversity all year long,” he said. They played hard and it was an all-around team effort. They really deserved it.”

Ottley’s crew tangled with the Dresden Junior Kings in game one on Good Friday. And a good Friday it was, as they rolled to a 4-1 victory with Nathen Alvar leading the way, potting two goals. Ben McFadden and Austin Hamilton-Drouillard chipped in with singles and Connor Leroux got the win between the pipes.

In game two, the Blazers edged the Garden City Falcons by a 5-3 count. Nicholas DiMilo stood tall in the net for the win. Steve Belanger’s hat trick was the offensive highlight for the Blazers. Singles went to Rhyder Rivest and Hamilton-Drouillard.

With an unblemished record, the Blazers came into the quarter-finals against a strong Ajax-Pickering team and beat them 2-1. McFadden and Belanger had the goals for the winners and Leroux took the W in goal.

In the semi-final, the Trailblazers found themselves behind for the first time in the tournament, trailing 2-1 going into the third against a tough St. Thomas Junior Stars team. But perseverance paid off as they came back and won the game 4-3. DiMilo got the win in the net, while four different players shared the scoring: Alvar, McFadden, Belanger and Ryder Laybolt.

That set the table for the championship game where the Blazers faced the Goderich Sailors for the OMHA championship. On the strength of two goals from McFadden and one each from Alvar and Belanger, the Blazers brought home the gold. Leroux got the win in goal.

The team had a 28-7-2 record during the regular season, including tournaments.