Sean Klaver knew his U18 AA Winterhawks were a skilled, capable team from the season’s onset.
But it wasn’t until American Thanksgiving weekend tournament play in Chicago that the full scope of that potential presented itself.
“We played Richmond Hill in the final; they were ranked I think 10th at the time in Ontario. We were up six nothing within probably seven or eight minutes and they ended up leaving the ice… not even finishing the game,” recalled the Milton coach. “That’s when they (Winterhawks) really showed what they could do.”
A history-making reminder of that was delivered this past weekend in Markham.
With some explosive starts and firing on all cylinders, the Winterhawks puntucated an unbeaten run with an 8-2 shellacking of the Soo Jr. Greyhounds – giving Milton Minor Hockey its first-ever Ontario Hockey Federation title.
Clear-cut favourites after hammering the Soo 9-0 in round-robin play, the would-be champs jumped out to a 3-0 first-period lead en route to their dominant all-Ontario title victory.
“It’s sweet to end it this way,” said caption Theo Sikic, part of a core group of players who’ve been together for the past five years and captured 20 tournament banners along the way.
Added MMHA President Aaron Fernandes, “This is such a storybook ending for the 2006 Winterhawks. I can’t think of a more fitting conclusion than with our first OHF win.”
Kian Brandt led Sunday afternoon’s final with a hat-trick -- bringing his weekend goal count to seven -- while Colin Day tallied twice. Also scoring were Ryan Cunha, Nolan Duplantis and Connor Cochren, who finished the weekend with a team-high eight goals and 15 points.
A total of nine players had six or more points at the OHFs, while netminders Liam Edmonds and Patrick Baker surrendered just seven goals in six games to keep their season goals-against average well under 2.00.
“We have such a skilled team,” said Klaver, whose team closed out the season at 55-9-6. “I’d say probably at least half of these guys could have been playing triple-A this year.”
Milton went 3-0-1 in round-robin play and punched their ticket to the championship showdown with a 5-0 shutout of the Markham Islanders.
From a suspense standpoint, OHFs paled in comparison to the Winterhawks’ OMHA title run two weeks earlier in Oakville.
Milton and its neighbouring hosts had held down the top two spots in the provincial rankings all season long, and needed three rounds of overtime and a shootout to decide their semifinal clash, with Day netting the only penalty shot goal and Baker turning back all Ranger shooters.
From there, the Winterhawks blanked North Durham 4-0 to join the Red Hat club.
“Oakville was our biggest rival; we knew whoever won the semis was probably going to win the all-Ontarios,” said Sikic.
Struggling to find his voice after an “emotional roller-coaster” weekend, Klaver said claiming the town’s first OHF championship was something the boys would remember the rest of their lives.
“To be part of that… you know when they have kids and come back to the arena, they’ll be like ‘Yep, there’s the first one (banner), and we were part of that.”