TEAM Celebrates OMHA Championship Victory

For the Tweed Hawks U18 team, it was more than just winning an Ontario Minor Hockey Association championship.

Perhaps greater was the example of lessons hockey, and all sports, can provide along the way and the opportunity coaches have to play a positive role in the life of a youth on and off the ice. “Our coaching was definitely our reason for getting there – we couldn’t have done it without our coaching for sure,” said Hawks’ player Sam Gale, who scored the overtime winner to clinch the OMHA U18 Tier 3 victory. “We’re different people from what we were at the start of the year and I can say that with confidence because we now truly even in real life can say that we have a different mindset towards things that we want in life and we can say that we were able to dedicate ourselves and really give it our all. I just give the credit to our coaches for being able to push us that far.”

Tweed went undefeated in five games at the OMHA’s U18 Tier 3 Championship Weekend April 7-9 in Windsor. In round-robin play, the Hawks defeated Elmvale Coyotes 3-1, Hanover Falcons 8-2 and West Lorne Comets 6-1.

The most lopsided Silver Stick victory for Tweed, though, came in the semifinals as they handed the Delhi Rockets an 11-0 drubbing. “We went into that tournament, we knew what we had to do and we were steamrolling,” Gale said. “We knew we were going to be on track for a good outcome and that semifinals game was just kind of unreal to us that we did that.”

Gale suggests there were nerves on both sides in the OMHA championship final against the TCDMHA Rebels from the Township of Chatworth and District organization in the Owen Sound area. The Rebels had played in a number of close contests throughout the tournament before needing extra time against Tweed in the final.

“I think both teams were a bit nervous because they saw we beat the last team by quite a bit but either way we both put up such a great fight and it was such a nail-biter game for us all,” Gale said.

With the teams tied at the end of regulation time, Gale scored just over a minute into overtime to give Tweed a 4-3 victory and the OMHA championship. “It’s kind of one of those things you never really think