U15 Blazers win International Silver Stick

Port Huron, Michigan, was the site of the U15 International Silver Stick Championships on January 24-25-26 and the U15 Talbot Trail Blazers came away with the title.

Both the U.S. and Canada were represented as eight teams from each country qualified for minor hockey’s long-coveted championship.

In game one of round-robin pool play the Blazers faced off against the Sauk Prairie Flyers from Wisconsin and easily skated away with a 7-1 win. 

AJ Youssef scored a pair, while Braylon Aflak, Nathan Mariuz, Larry Jeffrey, Lucas O’Neil and Kelton McCabe added singles. 

Game two was played against the Centre Wellington Fusion with the  Blazers coming away with a 3-1 victory. Austin Goudie potted two goals with Nash Fuerth chipping in with one. 

The Blazers’ next opponent was the Port Huron Flags from Michigan. In a sluggish game, Talbot still managed to skate away with a 5-2 win. Lucas O’Neil, Larry Jeffrey, Connor Rumble, Nash Fuerth and Austin Goudie each scored in the victory. 

After teams were seeded by their record, the Blazers next test was the Sarnia Jr. Sting in the quarter-final. Brayden Foster opened the scoring in this tilt with Nash Fuerth and Austin Goudie adding goals en route to a 3-0 win. 

Early Sunday morning the Blazers were ready to battle a very good team, the Ottawa Stittsville Rams, in one of two semi-final contests. This was a fast-paced and end-to-end game with both teams displaying their talent. 

With 7:52 left in the first period, Lucas O’Neil dug the puck out of the corner from a dump-in and slid a pass to Brayden Foster in the slot, whose one-timer slap shot beat the goalie high to get the Blazers on the board. 

With 4:21 left in the same period, the Rams were able to even the score during a goalmouth scramble. 

After a scoreless second period and the teams tied 1-1, Austin Goudie battled hard in the corner and stepped out to the circle and fired his hard snapper short side to again take the lead with 9:29 remaining in the third.

Foster added an empty-netter with just over 30 seconds left on the clock to ice the game at 3-1.

The final saw a rematch with a familiar foe, Centre Wellington Fusion. 

These evenly matched teams traded rushes and scoring opportunities until 49 seconds remained in the opening period when Nash Fuerth flew in on a hard forecheck, stole the puck and slipped a pass out to Lucas O’Neil in the low slot, who fired his shot in off the post to take the lead. 

The Talbot Trail Blazers continued their hard work into the second and despite a few sloppy moments carried their one-goal lead into the third. 

With 11:37 remaining in the game, AJ Youssef chased down an errant Fusion pass and ripped his shot on net. Austin Goudie found the rebound and jammed it in to make it 2-0.

With 1:48 to play, during a mad scramble in front of the net, the Fusion banged one in over the line to close the gap.

But that was as close as they would get as the Blazers were able to shut the door the rest of the way, earning the win and claiming the International Silverstick Championship. 

Austin Goudie and goalie Kevin Ondic were named to the tournament all-star team. 

Ondic played every second of the tournament  and also earned a tournament MVP award.