Dec 04, 2017 | Kathryn Ronalds | 825 views
Nations Cup Champions!
The Flamborough Sabres Minor PeeWee AA team travelled to
Detroit, Michigan the weekend of November 24-26, 2017 to play in the Nations
Cup tournament - a battle of teams from the USA vs. teams from Canada.
The Sabres first game was against the Chicago Jets. Surging ahead to an initial 2-0 lead in the first period, the Jets came back strong and the game ended in a 3-3 tie. The team then battled the number one seeded Naperville Sabres and won the game 4-1. Saturday morning came early and the team lost their next game to a strong local team, the Troy Sting. With lots of determination, the Sabres dominated their next game and won 10-0 over a Pittsburgh Select team.
The team’s strong showing the first two days of the tournament placed them second out of a contingent of seven Canadian teams going into the championship games on Sunday. The day did not start well for Canada as two of the other Canadian teams fell to US teams. The Sabres were paired against the second seeded US team – the very strong Chicago Bruins. As it turned out, the Sabres game was going to be the turning point in the tournament…
As the game started, it was an end to end battle with chances on both sides and the first period ended in a 0-0 tie. The stands quickly filled up with both Canadian and US jerseys. The Sabres started strong in the second period, netting 3 quick goals, sending the Canadian fans into a frenzy. There was flag waving and chants of Canada throughout the rink. The Chicago Bruins were not going to go easy and at the start of the 3rd period, they netted an early one to make it a 3-1 score. The third period was full of chances on both sides. With 2:40 minutes left on the clock the Sabres took a penalty. The US Bruins jumped on this chance and pulled their goalie making it 6 on 4 for the remainder of the game. An errant pass was intercepted by the Sabres and the player took off, winning the race to the puck and scoring an empty net goal to make it 4-1 for Canada.
The Sabres won the game, and Canada won the Nations Cup! As the boys were leaving the ice, dozens of Canadian jerseys made a gauntlet from the ice to the dressing room for the boys cheering them on and shaking hands. A great weekend for the Flamborough Sabres both on and off of the ice.