Ottawa Valley Silver Seven Mj Peewee AA win International Silver Stick in Port Huron, MI

The Silver Stick dream continued on for the Ottawa Valley Silver Seven Major Peewee AA team as they headed to Port Huron, MI for the International Finals on Jan 24-27 after qualifying by winning the Sudbury Silver Stick Regional in December.
                   
The team went 2-1 in the round robin which put the team in the first wild card position and set up the quarter-final game vs  Ancaster Avalanche.  The Silver Seven took care of business with a 6-4 win in a nail biter back and forth game which saw three lead changes.

Next up were the Farmington Flames in the Semi finals.  A victory here would give either team a chance to play in the finals for the coveted Silver Stick.  This game was everything it was billed up to be with excellent speed, pin point passing, deadly accurate shooting and stone walled defence and goaltending from both teams.  The Silver Seven came out on top with a 2-1 victory when they scored a late third period goal.

With the win, Silver Seven were off the THE FINALS vs the Arapahoe Ice Warriors. Both teams offense were being challenged by spectacular defence and goaltending.  Oliver Carriere, assisted by Austin Vincent broke the scoreless tie to take the lead 1-0 in the second period for the Silver Seven.  The Ice Warriors responded in the third to tie up the game and force Over Time.  More spectacular goaltending by Silver Seven Sebastian Dubois was on display in OT until the 4:55 mark when Silver Seven’s Ryan Blanchfield scored with a top corner rocket to claim North American minor hockey supremacy and the coveted Silver Stick!
“It’s an emotional weekend,” Silver Seven coach Cameron Baird said. “We actually lost our first game then got on a real nice roll. You had two pretty tired teams; it’s a long weekend for a couple groups of 12-year olds.
“The overtime, it’s certainly a tough way to lose, and my hat goes off to the other team, they were fantastic. I guess if you could choose to win in overtime, it does make it a little bit more dramatic and more exciting for the boys.”
The International Silver Stick Association has been honored by having the original Silver Stick used for opening ceremonies in 1958 displayed in the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto since 1982.  Each year, after all the Silver Stick Finals Tournaments are completed, a plaque is placed in the Hall of Fame display case listing the team names of all the Champions for that year. The Ottawa Valley Silver Seven will be honored to be included on that plaque for 2013.
Interestingly, even though the Ottawa Valley Silver Seven hockey association has had tremendous success in its relatively short history, this is the first International Silver Stick championship for the Association. As well, we now have two generations of International Silver Stick champions on the team.  Mark Seaman (Assistant Coach) won the midget championship with Newmarket in 1984  His son Eric, can also now claim that title.

The Silver Seven road to the 2013 Silver Stick championship - combined stats from Port Huron Finals and Sudbury regional:
GP-11   W-10   L-1   GF 46  GA 20
Meet the 2013 Ottawa Valley Silver Seven Mj. Peewee AA International Silver Stick Champions
1          G         Sebastian Dubois         Stittsville
31        G         Ben Barkley                 Stittsville
2          D         Cameron Belanger       Stittsville
3          F          Pendle Sutton-Pollock  Almonte-Pakenham
4          F          Mathew Banning          Richmond-Munster
6          F          Eddie Olmstead           Perth-Lanark
7          F          Ross Campbell             Stittsville
8          D         Brian Arthur                West Carleton
9          F          Nick Belli                    Richmond-Munster
10        D         Duncan Baird              Osgoode-Rideau
12        F          Oliver Carriere             Carleton Place
16        D         Dan Hennessy             Almonte-Pakenham    
17        F          Ben Whyte                   Richmond-Munster
18        F          Austin Vincent             Perth-Lanark
19        F          Eric Seaman                 Osgoode-Rideau         
24        D         Jonah Maybury                        Osgoode-Rideau
27        F          Ryan Blanchfield         Stittsville
Head Coach                 Cameron Baird
Assistant Coach                       Mark Seaman
Assistant Coach                       Joe Vincent
Trainer                         Joe Belli
Manager                       Richard Carriere