Bantam Raiders lost in 92-93 final

By C. Scott Holland

Back in March 1993, Leamington’s Bantam A Rhine Danube Raiders made it to the OMHA finals vs Cobourg but the result wasn’t exactly what the Raiders wanted. Cobourg, who had won the BB title for two consecutive years, had been moved up to the A level and they quickly showed why.

Moments after losing the six point OMHA title series, Raiders’ coach Paul Kiss defined the reason why Leamington had problems. “We ran into a hot goaltender,” he said. “He (goalie Lalande) did the same thing to us up in Cobourg.”

Cobourg won the Bantam A OMHA title by beating the Raiders 4-1 in the fourth game played at Leamington. It also allowed Cobourg to compete for the All-Ontario title in Timmins later on.

After losing the opening two games in Cobourg the previous weekend, the Raiders returned home and showed some fire in game three, as they beat their rivals 5-3. But in the fourth contest, all Cobourg needed was Lalande to win 4-1 and take the crown.

The Coburg team piles on each other after claiming the 1992-93 OMHA Bantam A championship.

Scott Holland Collection photo

The Raiders outshot Cobourg 35-16 in the final game but couldn’t get one puck past Lalande until the final minutes, when David Cornies broke the shutout bid.

The third game, which Leamington won, was a close affair until the opening minutes of the third when they scored two quick goals to break the game open.

Jeff Baclig unleashed a rising shot after taking Jamie Maksoud’s feed and it sailed into the net before anyone knew it. A few minutes later, Andy Verhoeven split the defense and made it 4-2. But Cobourg would edge closer midway through the frame before David Cornies notched his second of the contest. Aaron Setterington had opened the Leamington scoring before Cornies potted his first of two goals.

Members of that strong entry were: Stefan Taylor, Jay Wiper (goal); Chad Ropchan, Jason Johnston, Andy Verhoeven, David Cornies, Jeff Baclig, Mike Baker, Jamie Maksoud, Chuck Smith, Wade Jeffery, Brent Cerovoski, Aaron Setterington and Steve Konrad.