Total Performance Training

you’re going to be able to accomplish in your life,” Gale said of scoring a championship-clinching goal in overtime. “I saw the left corner wide open so I took the shot and there it was. It could’ve been any of us on the team. It was really just a moment of all that hard work and dedication the whole team had put in. It just all paid off in that moment right there.”

Tweed U18 Hawks team members are goaltenders Ryan Grove and Tucker McKichan along with captain Niilo Ahola, assistant captains Eli Prance and Chaz Cassidy as well as Cameron Hunt, Luke Walker, Drew Lessard, Jack Shalton, Owen Whyte, Jeremy Hunt, Jacob Heard, Felix Sterner, Wyatt Daisley, Chris Brown, Ayden Else, Reid Whalen, Hayden Blackburn and Gale.

“This specific group has gone through quite a lot together. At the start of the season we were a bit up-and-down, we weren’t very consistent. We had taken the season along, winning some games we should have, losing some games we shouldn’t have but it really just came down to dedication and listening to what our coaches had to say to us,” Gale said. “In practices we were adding some skating drills and just fine-tuning all the things that we needed improvement on, but definitely the biggest thing was being able to take what our coaches had to say to us and being able to perfect it out on the ice and in games.”

Gale said head coach Paddy Cassidy deserves full credit with pushing the players to realize their full potential this season. “He led us there, he was the one who pushed us, he changed all of our mindsets 100 per cent from not thinking that we were 100 per cent going to be winning OMHA’s to him really putting it into our heads that we need to dedicate ourselves and really work for it if we want to get something and that’s what we did,” Gale said, also thanking the rest of the staff includes assistant coaches Cory Brown, Dave Prance, trainers Andy Hunt and Jake Gunning and manager Mike Else. “They were all pushing us just to be the best we can be.”

Upon returning home, a parade was held in Tweed as Hawks supporters turned out to celebrate the OMHA champs. “That was amazing. The whole community was out there cheering for us,” Gale said. It was a surreal moment really. It was just a moment of happiness. We all got to go around and celebrate, just have that moment with the whole town really. It was just a great experience.”