A group of Woolwich Minor Hockey players are celebrating that they were able to cap off their playing days by finally getting a championship, defeating one of their biggest rivals to do so.
The Wildcats U21 team won the Ontario Minor Hockey Association championship earlier this month with a 2-1 overtime win over the Ennismore Eagles, making a victory that was a long time coming for several members of the team.
“For them to get the OMHA championship, that age group as Junior Sugar Kings, they went to the finals of OMHA and lost to Centre-Wellington and they went to the finals of CWOSSA in their high school year and lost, so they were always right there in the finals, but never completed. So for those 20-year-old players, getting that championship was a big weight off their shoulders, kind of a monkey off the back,” said coach Gavin White.
Winning with teammates he grew up playing with made the victory that much sweeter, said captain Joel Washington.
“We’ve been so good. We’ve just been so close and we haven’t been able to do it. And to finally get over that hump when COVID took us out that one year as well, it’s just that much sweeter that we got it done together,” he said.
The victory over the Eagles was also a long time coming for the team who lost to Ennismore in the OMHA final in 2019, and again last year. The team finished with a record of 21-6-3 this season leading up to the OMHA tournament, with three of the six losses coming against their rivals. The Eagles also posted a 4-2 victory in the first game of the tournament in Whitby.
“Ennismore is a really good hockey team. We knew we could beat them and finally it happened,” said goalie Simon Huber.
“We definitely expected to put our heart and soul into it,” Huber said of the team’s attitude going into the final.
“We were hoping to win and we knew we could do it. But it was also a lot of our players’ last game so they’re just kind of out there to enjoy it and do their best and let the results be.”
The team would not have won the championship with Huber, White said.
“It’s really hard to win a championship without a good goalie…He was dialed in, and you could see it in his eyes. He really wanted the game, he really wanted to win. He wanted to make sure that he was able to shut down Ennismore,” White added.
Huber was able to enjoy the championship with his twin brother, defenseman Lucas.
“Playing with him is an experience that I really enjoyed just going to the rink and growing up together. He always helped me out and it’s awesome and I got to finish off my minor hockey career playing with my brother,” Simon Huber said.
Woolwich was up 1-0 for most of the final, which was an evenly matched game, said White.
“You can’t really ask for a better championship game when it goes over time. It wasn’t a blowout. It was very toe to toe, back and forth. The shots were 22-21. The penalties were really even. Our faceoff guys were very even. So a back-and-forth game, for sure.”
The Eagles tied it up with four minutes left to play.
“It kind of deflated us a bit, but we ended up getting it done in overtime,” said Owen Lee, who scored the winner, with Washington logging the assist.
“I didn’t really see it go in, I just saw the net move. It was a great feeling, I was hugging all the guys. I was crying and then I was happy and crying again. Emotions were everywhere. It was amazing that it got done in overtime like that,” Washington said.
There was a lot of relief scoring the winner, Lee said.
“One of the memorable goals of my minor hockey career, for sure….So to get the goal and celebrate with coaches and all my teammates, especially the guys who won’t be playing next year, it’s pretty sweet.”
