92's Represent; Deliver Amazing Silver Sticks Run

THE BUILDUP:
Developing our players is our team's #1 goal.

Showcasing our players is our #2 goal.

Winning the Michigan State and USA National Championships are goals #3 and #4.

With this in mind our team roster was constructed to include our five 91 birthyear players because our coaches felt they were clearly the right players to include on our roster to give us the best opportunity to accomplish our #3 and #4 goals.

Still, with 15 1992 players we are one of only three ELITE teams in the United States (Compuware and Rochester Alliance the other two) with enough 92's to be invited to the International Silver Stick Finals in Whitby; which is the most important showcase tournament of the year for OHL draft eligible players.

So our 92's finished their Thanksgiving Day meals and headed to Whitby with 1 goalie, 4 defensemen plus converted forward Brent Formosa, and 9 forwards.

First Two Games:
The tournament opened with a sloppy 5-4 win for us against the North Central Predators, followed by a lethargic 3-1 loss to Elgin-Middlesex (more on them later).

With his father visiting from California to watch him play for the first time since July, Goalie Kyle Laslo looked nervous and way off his game, and as the only goalie we brought to the tournament there was no backup available.

To add to our obstacles the Elgin game ended after 10:30 PM and we would have to play our third and last preliminary round game against a strong Halton Hurricanes team at 7:50 AM the next morning.

Watching the uninspired performance of our players on the first day of the tournament, and knowing the schedule and quality of the team we had to play in the morning, it certainly appeared that our stay in Whitby would be a short one.

But fortunately the tide was about to turn.

Next Two Games:
Our incomparable team chemistry and toughness kicked in early Saturday Morning as our team played a near flawless game in a 2-0 victory over the Halton Hurricanes.

(Note: This game was the first of an incredible display of goaltending by Kyle Laslo who caught fire Saturday morning and was spectacular in net for the last five games of the tournament.)

Unfortunately, we did not have the scoring percentage necessary to advance straight through to the quarterfinal round and had to play a quarterfinal qualifier game against the host team, Whitby Wildcats.

(Note: Early in the first period of the Halton game Alex Frere was ejected for a hit from behind and missed the rest of the game plus the next game against Whitby which meant our team had only 13 skaters for both of those games.)

Against the host team Whitby in the quarterfinal qualifier the arena was packed with OHL scouts and local Whitby supporters and the atmosphere was electric.

Despite controlling the game, our team found themselves down 2-1 with less than 20 seconds remaining when Garrett Ross scored to even the game at 2-2 and send it to overtime where Austin Czarnik roofed a shot from the slot to win it and send us on to the quarterfinals.

Running The Gauntlet:
A tired and battered team hit the ice on Saturday night for our third game of the day and the first of three games against a trio of premiere teams from the province of Ontario.

In our first game, the quarterfinal, against the well rested and powerful Toronto Red Wings team we raced out to a 2-0 lead and extended it to 3-0 before hanging on for a 3-1 victory.

(Note: During the game defensemen Chris Barile suffered a fractured ankle after falling to the ice when speared in the leg by a Red Wing player which left us with only 3 defensemen plus converted forward Brent Formosa for the remainder of the tournament. Formosa proved to be our team's most important skater in the tournament, and as he got more comfortable on defense with each successive game, he became a major factor in our team's run to the championship game.)

Our victory over the Toronto Redwings set up a semi-final match with the famed Toronto Junior Canadiens who advanced to the Semi-finals by beating Detroit Compuware 2-1 in their quarterfinal game.

The Junior Canadiens took the lead on us only seconds into the game when they scored on their first shift. But we would not be denied and rallied back with three straight goals to take a 3-1 lead. The Junior Canadiens scored to make it 3-2 before DJ Hastings sealed the game with a late goal for a 4-2 victory that sent us to the championship game and a rematch with Elgin-Middlesex.

(Note: Our team became only the second Michigan team and third team from the United States to ever defeat the powerful Junior Canadiens.)

The toughness and chemistry that helps to make our team the most complete Midget Minor team in the United States was on display once again in the Championship game as it was obvious that with only 13 skaters, playing our 7th game of the tournament, coming off three very physical hard fought victories against great competition...we had next to nothing left in the energy tank.

The score after two periods was 0-0 heading into the third. Five minutes into the third Austin Czarnik scored off a beautiful feed from Daniel Cesarz to give us a 1-0 lead. Elgin scored two goals a few minutes later to take a 2-1 lead. But right off the faceoff following the second Elgin goal, Garrett Ross took a pass from Cody Donnay at center ice and skated in to score a beautiful goal to make it 2-2 heading into the game's final seconds.

Off a faceoff in the Elgin zone a play designed by the coaches almost won us the game as Austin Czarnik took a pass from behind the net with 4 seconds remaining and shot the puck off the near side post which ricocheted straight across the goal line to the far side post and out as regulation time expired.

To use an analogy to silver (for the Silver Sticks), Czarnik came the width of a dime away from winning us the Championship and himself the Tournament MVP.

Unfortunately, Elgin would score a few minutes into the first overtime session and deny us the Silver Sticks Championship. Despite the loss we couldn't be more proud of a group of players and coaches who displayed tremendous heart when faced with a great challenge and established our Belle Tire team as one of the best in North America.