Week 16 Highlights

The Ottawa Centre Novice A Blazers played a wildly entertaining B side semi-final against Carleton Place at the Almonte-Packenham Novice A tournament Sunday. The Blazers opened the scoring in the first period on a wrist shot top shelf by Owen Saull, assisted by winger Sacha Lawrence. Carleton Place tied the game, and the score remained tied 1-1 throughout regulation time. It took two exciting overtime periods and then a shoot-out to resolve the game, which finished as a win for Carleton Place. Both teams deserved the victory. The Blazers enjoyed some outstanding goaltending by Brendan Lemon and great defensive play by Thomas Adriaanse. Defenseman and birthday boy Anil Esleben was also stellar on the blue line, stopping rushes and advancing the puck to give his forwards great chances. Earlier in the day, the Blazers lost a first round game to one of their strong league teams, West End, after a hard-played effort. In that game, Nicky Dunn scored the Blazers’ lone goal on a one-timer off a bullet-like centering  pass from winger Taras Wylynko. The Blazers went home elated with their improved level of play, after a tough season in a very competitive Bytown league.    

In Novice B, the Ottawa Centre Ice Breakers had a tough match against West End, holding on to a 1-1 tie until the dying seconds of the game, when they lost 2-1. Pablo de Larrinaga had a great game in net, making a number of spectacular saves. He was helped by a determined defense and especially Joshua Campbell who fought for every puck. Hopefully all the pieces will fall into place for the upcoming playoffs. If excitement is anything to go by, the Ice Breakers are in great shape for the next stage of their hockey season.

In Atom, this past weekend the Ottawa Centre Atom A Vipers combined skill, desire and unfailing confidence in team play to win the Osgoode-Rideau Minor Hockey Association House League Tournament. Their second tournament championship of the season, the Vipers were strong at both ends of the rink, outscoring the opposition 28 to 6 over five games. Since the beginning of the season, the Vipers have shown a lot of stickhandling and skating skill, but this weekend they showed that spreading the ice, passing to the open player, trusting your teammates and playing as a team wins championships. Goaltender, Owen Burke, owned the crease and gave no free rebounds. The defense was outstanding, containing the opposition, limiting shots and initiating the offense with crisp breakout and cross-ice passes. Up front, all three forward lines were equally dangerous and productive. Shift after shift the Viper forwards were a relentless forechecking force. They worked the corners well, passed to their points and crashed the net for rebounds. Heading into the playoffs, coaches Michael Best, Jim Low and Chris Figueredo are proud to see the Vipers raise their game to another level, work hard and discover how good they can be playing heads-up, team-first hockey. Lastly, the many parents, friends and fans that made the drive to Osgoode and Manotick were much entertained. Bring on the playoffs.


The Ottawa Centre B Gold ended the regular schedule with a season-high barrage of goals in an 11-2 win over Ottawa East. The Gold, which had lost each of its three previous games by one goal, got four goals from Owen Baker, three from Jamie Bender-Kerbel and a pair each from Andrei Trickey and Mattheus Lawford. The Gold finished the Bytown League season at 9-6-1, an outstanding record for a team with 10 first-year Atom players on its roster.

At the Carleton Ice House Thursday evening, an all-Ottawa Centre tournament-style showdown took place between a pair of Atom C teams that are in 1st and 2nd place in their league. To their credit, the coaches and managers turned the event into a full fledged championship game, complete with trophies and a party after the game. It was a packed house of fans to watch the rival Ice Dogs and PowerShots. The Players of the Game were Danny Hogan and Mike Power. To mark the event, a bagpiper welcomed the players onto the ice, the sound of which sent the entire Novice A Blazers team – which had just finished a practice – scurrying from the locker room to listen and watch the action.