U13s win OMHA ‘A’ title, look ahead to OHF

The Essex Southpoint U13 hockey team travelled to Whitby this past weekend to compete in the OMHA ‘A’ Provincial Championship tournament and did not disappoint, coming away as Ontario champions for the second straight year.

On Friday afternoon, their first opponent was the Burlington Eagles, whom they handily defeated 13-0 in a lopsided affair. JoJo McLeod and Lucas O’Neil paced the attack each scoring a hat trick, while Ben Liebrock potted a pair. Nathan Mariuz, Nash Fuerth, Austin Goudie, AJ Youssef and Kayden Cook added one each. Kevin Ondic got the shutout.

Next up were the Markham Waxers and the ESP squad kept the heat on posting a 9-2 victory. Youssef was Johnny on the spot in this game, banging in four goals from in tight. Mariuz notched a pair, while Fuerth, Tyler Thomas and Goudie rounded out the scoring. Trent Chevalier earned the win in goal.

The two big wins — combined with goal differential — sent ESP to the quarterfinals where they faced off against the Milton Winterhawks.

Despite badly outplaying and outshooting the Winterhawks, the game remained scoreless until two minutes into the final frame when Goudie slipped a pass to Youssef behind the net and he sent it out front to the slot where Fuerth one-timed his shot five-hole to get on the board.

Midway through the third, while on the power play, Fuerth passed back to Owen Derksen at the line and his hard wrist shot beat their goalie low blocker.

Milton scored with 2:42 left while shorthanded, but 30 seconds later Derksen kept the puck in at the line and hit Brayden Foster fired in his own rebound to regain the two goal margin.

With under a minute to play, Cook broke up an offensive rush and fired the puck the length of the ice into an empty net to seal the 4-1 win. Ondic earned the win in the contest.

On Sunday morning, ESP was up against the Barrie Colts in the semi-final.

ESP dominated play and shots and had two goals disallowed, but with about two minutes left in the opening period, Thomas sent the puck back to Cook at the line and he ripped his shot on net. O’Neil found the rebound and banged it through the wickets to open the scoring.

Next, with 5:58 to play in the second, Fuerth carried the puck in and around the net and slid a pass out to the slot where Derksen ripped his wrist shot top shelf to increase the lead to two.

With 12:23 left to play, Derksen fired his shot on net where Youssef tipped the puck to Goudie and he slipped it five-hole to go up by three.

Barrie scored on a power play two minutes later, but that was as close as they would come in an ESP 3-1 victory. Chevalier, between the pipes, got the win. This set up a matchup in the final against a strong team, Centre Wellington Fusion.

In a back-and-forth game, ESP found themselves trailing after giving up a powerplay goal late in the first.

Two minutes into the second, the Fusion scored again to double their lead.

ESP’s intensity and determination showed from this point on.

In the middle frame, Lucas O’Neil found the puck in a scramble in the slot and snapped his shot low blocker to get on the board.

Just 12 seconds later, Fuerth made a bee line for the net, ripping his shot, and Goudie slammed in the rebound to even the score.

A minute later, JoJo McLeod sent a stretch pass to Ben Liebrock and his hard shot hit the post but Derek Dunn found it and beat the goalie short side to take the lead.

As time ran out in the second, Jonathan Recker stopped the puck at the line, skated in wide left and zipped a pass crosscrease to Liebrock who tipped it home.

In the third period, it was all ESP as Youssef and Liebrock finished off the scoring for a 6-2 victory. Kevin Ondic earned the win between the pipes.

ESP now enters the OHF Championships April 21-23 in Leamington as the reigning OMHA champion.

The U13 A Ontario Champions. Kneeling in front are Kevin Ondic, Nash Fuerth, Trent Chevalier . Middle row, from left, are coach Tony Youssef, Brayden Foster, Lucas O’Neil, Nathan Mariuz, Tyler Thomas, Isaiah Georges, AJ Youssef, Max Pyne, Derek Dunn, Owen Derksen, Ben Liebrock, coach Dylan Impens, trainer Jamie Thomas. Back row, from left, are coach Ryan Derksen, JoJo McLeod, Austin Goudie, Jonathan Recker, Kayden Cook. Team mascot is Ethan Liebrock. Photo submitted