Essex Southpoint takes all-Ontario OHF title

By Mark Ribble

With files from Jen Foster

With about 400 fans cheering loudly in Leamington’s Highbury Arena, the Essex Southpoint (ESP) U13 team capped an unbeaten weekend by taking the Ontario Hockey Federation U13 A championship on Sunday, April 23.

The win in the final game came on a comeback over fellow Ontario Minor Hockey Association opponent the Centre Wellington Fusion.

ESP roared to the final with round-robin wins over the West Hill Golden Hawks, Temiskaming Shores Puckhounds, Centre Wellington and Woodstock Navy Vets.

The semi-final on Sunday morning saw ESP defeat West Hill by a 6-1 score.

In game one, the locals defeated the Greater Toronto Hockey League champs from West Hill 8-2 on goals by Austin Goudie and Nash Fuerth (two each), JoJo McLeod, Owen Derksen, Derek Dunn and Lucas O’Neil. Trent Chevalier got the victory in goal. Their second game was similar in fashion as they shut out the Northern Ontario Hockey League champions, Tamiskaming Shores 7-0. Kevin Ondic earned the shutout with support from seven different scorers in Goudie, Dunn, Nathan Mariuz, Ben Liebrock, Brayden Foster, Tyler Thomas and AJ Youssef.

Centre Wellington was up next — the team who was the OMHA runner-up to ESP a couple of weeks ago — and ESP skated away with a 9-2 rout. Liebrock and Thomas each scored twice, with singles to Goudie, Foster, Fuerth, O’Neil and Dunn. Chevalier earned the victory in goal.

The fourth game of the round-robin saw ESP shut out the Woodstock Navy Vets 5-0 as Ondic got his second shutout of the tournament. Liebrock led the scoring barrage with two goals, while Mariuz, Foster and O’Neil potted singles.

In the semi-final, the locals found themselves up against West Hill once again and skated away with a 6-1 score on the strength of a pair of goals by McLeod. Singles went to Kaden Cook, Fuerth, Liebrock and Youssef.

The final game against familiar foe Centre Wellington proved to be ESP’s biggest challenge of the weekend as the Fusion took an early 2-0 lead and tried their best to hang on against ESP’s explosive offence through two periods.

After a flood and time to regroup, ESP came out a determined bunch in the third.

Midway through the final period, Derksen sent a long stretch pass up to Cook, who skated in from his off wing and roofed his snapshot to finally get ESP on the board.

With the team alive and the crowd buzzing, the impossible seemed to be in reach.

Two minutes later, Cook grabbed the puck in his own end, weaved past the defence and fired his shot high glove to even the score.

Both teams traded chances in the final minutes of this exciting contest, each trying to will their team to a victory.

Then, with 2:25 remaining, Cook stopped a clearing attempt at the line. Liebrock picked up the puck, stepped up and wired his snapshot just inside the post to give ESP the lead.

The Fusion tried desperately to tie the game, but Ondic and his ESP teammates shut the door, skating away with a thrilling 3-2 come-from-behind win in front of a frenzied hometown crowd.

Finishing the year with an incredible record of 70-4-2, this ESP U13 hockey team now holds dual titles as the OMHA and OHF champions.

The Essex-Southpoint U13 hockey team took the Ontario Hockey FederationA championship at the Nature Fresh Farms Recreation Centre Highbury rink on Sunday afternoon, April 23 with a come-from-behind 3-2 win over Centre Wellington. The locals had beaten Centre Wellington in the Ontario Minor Hockey Association finals just weeks ago and went unbeaten this weekend. Front row, from left: Trent Chevalier, Lucas O’Neil, AJ Youssef, Kevin Ondic, team mascot Ethan Liebrock. Back row, from left: Dylan Impens (assistant coach), Kaden Cook, Nash Fuerth, Johnny Recker, Ty Thomas, JoJo McLeod, Max Pyne, Isaiah Georges, Ben Liebrock, Nathan Mariuz, Ryan Derksen (assistant coach), Brayden Foster, Owen Derksen, Derek Dunn, Austin Goudie, Tony Youssef (head coach), Jamie Thomas (trainer).

Kaden Cook lets go the blast that changed the championship game, beating Centre Wellington goalie Nicholas Barron to narrow the gap to 2-1 midway through the third period Sunday. Cook scored again minutes later to tie the game and set the stage for Ben Liebrock’s game winner.

ESP’s Derek Dunn, above photo, was named Most Valuable Player for the tournament, along with Centre Wellington’s goaltender Nicholas Barron, below, who both received their awards from OHF committee chair Linda Ralf. SUN photos