The 2010/11 season wrapped up this past weekend as the Valley East Rebels travelled to Alliston to compete in the Atom 'AA' OHF Championships. Champions from each division of the Ontario Hockey Federation would make the trip to battle against the best teams the province has to offer to see who would come out on top! While the Rebels definitely faced some excellent competition throughout the season, this would be their toughest weekend to date with several of the province's top-ranked teams vying for the OHF title!
The weekend opened up with a banquet to welcome the players from each team to Alliston and congratulate them on their many accomplishments throughout the season. The boys were treated to a great meal and got the chance to listen to former NHL player and TNT alumni Darrin Shannon speak about his life in the game of hockey.
Action would commence on Friday afternoon with the Rebels taking on the OMHA finalists, the Oakville Rangers. The boys got off to a flying start by jumping out to a commanding lead mid-way through the game! Oakville refused to give up and scored a couple of late goals but the Rebels got into the win column with an 8-4 victory to start the weekend. On Friday evening, the Rebels would meet the tournament hosts and OMHA champions, the TNT Tornados. This would be the first meeting between these two clubs this season. The boys would come out strong and took another early lead and by the middle of the second period, the Rebels found themselves up by a three goal margin. The team kicked it into defensive mode the rest of the way and moved to 2 and 0 with a 4-1 victory!
On Saturday afternoon, the Rebels were scheduled to battle the Alliance champs, the Kitchener Jr. Rangers. The Rangers proved that they would not go down without a fight as they kept the game close until the mid-way point of the match. The Rebels found their scoring touch in the second half of the game and cruised to a 6-2 win!
In a long awaited rematch, the GTHL champions, the Streetsville Tigers were next up for the Rebels. The Tigers would be out for revenge after the semi-final game at the International Silver Stick in Sarnia in January. In that match, the Rebels were trailing 3-0 with less than three minutes remaining when they stormed back to tie it up and send the game to overtime, where they won to advance to the championship game. Streetsville came out of the gate hard and caught the Rebels on their heels by taking an early lead. By the end of the second period, the Rebels were down by a 5-1 score. After a pep talk between periods, the boys started to skate and as a result created some scoring chances. With a little more than five minutes remaining in the game, the team pulled their goalie hoping for one more miracle comeback. After scoring a pair of goals to make it a 5-4 game, and with the Streetsville club scrambling to try and keep the puck out of their net, the buzzer sounded to end the game. The Tigers narrowly avoided another huge Rebels comeback and gave the Rebels their first loss since the New Year's Eve exhibition game versus Metallurg Magnitogorsk.
With that loss, the Rebels would finish the round-robin in second place, behind Streetsville. TNT would place third and Oakville in fourth place. The Kitchener Jr. Rangers would not advance.
Valley East would face the TNT Tornados in the semi-final on Sunday morning. Right from the drop of the puck, the Rebels appeared to be determined to advance to the championship game. The boys capitalized on their chances and skated to a convincing 6-1 victory! In the other semi-final match-up, Streetsville defeated Oakville 2-0 in a very tight game.
In the Championship Final, the Rebels were determined to get an early lead on the Tigers and force them to play catch-up for a change. The boys did just that by jumping out to a 2-0 lead before Streetsville got on the scoreboard. The Tigers scored another one to tie it up at two apiece before the Rebels closed out the second period by scoring with 1.2 seconds remaining to take a lead heading into the intermission. The third period was all Rebels as they were able to limit their opposition's scoring chances while scoring a pair of goals to extend their lead. The 5-2 victory would clinch it for the Rebels and make them the 2011 Atom 'AA' OHF Champions!!!
What a dream season it's been for the Valley East Rebels!
- an overall record of 62-4-2 - each loss by a single goal - Soo Greyhounds International 'AAA' Showdown Champions - Sudbury Silver Stick Atom 'AA' Champions - participated in the "International Hockey Friendship Challenge" versus Russian 'AAA' team Metallurg Magnitogorsk - International Silver Stick Atom 'AA' Champions - Central Ontario Wolves Cup Classic 'AAA' Tournament Champions - Winners of NOHA Tournament of Champions - NDMHL Atom Division 1 Champions - ranked #1 on MyHockeyRankings.com for entire season - OHF Atom 'AA' Champions
This will mark the fourth consecutive season that a Rebels atom team is able to bring home an OHF title, with the past two being 'AA' titles! This team will go down in Valley East hockey history as the most successful team ever. No Valley East team has ever been able to win both the 'AA' International Silver Stick and 'AA' OHF title in the same season. The coaching staff is extremely proud of each and every player on this team. Hopefully our boys can one day look back and understand the significance of their accomplishments this season. But the player's hard work, dedication, commitment to putting team goals ahead of personal achievements stands out above all.
CONGRATULATIONS REBELS!!
2011 OHF Championships Schedule/Results
Teams Attending - TNT Tornadoes (host team), Oakville Rangers (OMHA), Kitchener Jr. Rangers (Alliance), REBELS (NOHA), Streetsville Tigers (GTHL)
Semi-Final 2 - Streetsville Tigers 2 vs. Oakville Rangers 0
CHAMPIONSHIP FINAL - REBELS 5 vs. Streetsville Tigers 2
"Old School Hockey" is a new hockey apparel company that is expanding to our area. Click on the "Old School Hockey" logo to see the website...if you like the look and are interested in being one of the first in the area to wear the brand, fill out and submit the order form!
REBELS DEFEAT BULLDOGS TO WIN N.D.M.H.L. PLAYOFFS!
REBELS GO UNDEFEATED TO CAPTURE N.O.H.A. 'AA' TITLE AND ADVANCE TO OHF'S!!!
REBELS TAKE CHAMPIONSHIP AT CENTRAL ONT. WOLVES 'AAA' CUP TOURNEY!!
REBELS CAPTURE INTERNATIONAL SILVER STICK CHAMPIONSHIP!!
REBELS FALL IN O/T IN "INTERNATIONAL HOCKEY FRIENDSHIP CHALLENGE"!
The REBELS played host to Russian 'AAA' team METALLURG MAGNITOGORSK on New Year's Eve as part of the "International Hockey Friendship Challenge". Four elite teams from Eastern Europe, Team Kazakhstan '95, Team Ukraine '95, Moscow Soviet Wings '94 and Metallurg Magnitogorsk travelled to Sudbury to compete against four of Northern Ontario's top teams!
In an exciting game that was played before several hundred spectators and featured several lead changes, the Russian team tied the game at four goals apiece in the final few minutes to force extra time! Magnitogorsk iced it with a goal in overtime to take the exhibition match by a 5-4 score!
Afterwards both teams gathered together for a New Year's Eve celebration meal. This gave players, parents and coaches from both teams an opportunity to mingle and learn a little bit about each other and our respective cultures. The players from the Magnitogorsk team were then partnered up with Rebels players who welcomed their European counterparts into their homes for the evening. Even though it was a very brief visit, the feedback recieved from each and every Rebels family was that this was a fantastic experience that our boys will remember for the rest of their lives!
The Major Atom Rebels were honoured to have been selected to participate in this once in a lifetime opportunity! Special thanks to major sponsors Lizotte Fuels and Pinnacle Sports for helping make this event possible. Other sponsors included the V.E.P.H.A., The Valley East Renegades, Teddy Shack, Perfetto Manufacturing Ltd., Marcotte Mining, Skater's Edge, Open Ice Hockey, Norfab, Kal Tire, Royal Bank, Bell-Booth-Sirkka Optometry and the Travelodge Hotel.
REBELS TAKE SUDBURY SILVER STICK CHAMPIONSHIP!!
REBELS WIN CHAMPIONSHIP AT SOO INTERNATIONAL SHOWDOWN 'AAA' TOURNAMENT!!
Click on the "TOURNAMENTS" tab on the left for details!
Not everyone is a goal scorer, not everyone is a gifted playmaker, not everyone can deliver thundering body checks, but there are a number of things that everyone can do and we will spend a lot of time focusing on those things this year. Everyone can work hard, everyone can set a good example, everyone can practice self-discipline when necessary, and most importantly, everyone can be a good teammate.
A good teammate is someone that truly believes that an assist is as good as a goal and someone that understands that you spend more time checking than shooting over the course a game. A good teammate is someone that understands that a team with six twenty goal scorers is more difficult to defend than a team with one fifty goal scorer.
Hockey is the epitome of a team game. Good players may score lots of goals, but good teams win championships.
