Cardinal Minor Midget AA/AAA
Hockey Tournament
Elgin Middlesex wins A title; RSL makes it close on B side
By Tim Ruhnke, Journal Editor
CARDINAL A London-based team was crowned the champion of this year's
South Grenville AA/AAA minor midget hockey tournament.
It had been hoped a full complement of 16 teams would take part in the
sixth annual tournament held at the Cardinal and District Community Centre.
However, 12 teams competed in the 2004 event.
Those teams were placed in four divisions. Each team would play three
round-robin games; the top two teams in each division would then play each
other to determine which would compete in the A and B sides.
A cross-border rivalry pitted the Elgin Middlesex Chiefs from London
against the Buffalo Oilers in the A final. Buffalo defeated the Chiefs earlier
in the tournament, but Elgin Middlesex came up big when it really counted
and won the final 4-2.
Chiefs coach Kevin Callaghan said he had heard good things about the
Cardinal tournament prior to arriving last week, and the appearance here
lived up to its billing. "It's one of the best events I've participated
in as a coach or player... And I'm not just saying that," Callaghan
told The Journal.
The host South Grenville Rangers lost all three of its round-robin games:
11-1 to Kingston, 3-2 in overtime to Kanata and 9-1 to Rochester.
The other local team, the Rideau-St. Lawrence Kings (RSL), won its first
two games of the tournament. RSL, which won the A championship last year,
defeated Kanata 3-2 Friday morning. Dave McGlade scored twice for the Kings;
Corey Larocque added a single.
James Kirkwood and Mike Byrd scored in RSL's 2-0 win over Mississauga.
However, Rochester defeated the Kings 4-1; Manford Horvath scored RSL's
lone goal.
The Kings started play Sunday with a convincing 7-0 shutout of Monroe
County. Horvath picked up the hat trick. Nathan Murray added a pair for
the Kings, with singles going to Byrd and Ryan Landon. The victory gave
RSL a berth in the B championship game and a shot at taking home the Todd
Gill Trophy. The title game against the Cumberland Barons was a lively back-and-forth
game that featured numerous power-play opportunities. Cumberland would score
a goal, but RSL would keep coming back with one of its own. The Barons broke
a 5-5 tie in the third period, and the Kings were unable to respond before
the buzzer sounded.
RSL's goal scorers were McGlade, Murray, Landon, Jesse Kriwox and Brandon
Durant.
One of the best match-ups of the tournament pitted the Buffalo Oilers
against the Rochester Americans in the A semi-finals. The game went into
overtime and Rochester had numerous scoring chances during the extra period.
As the first overtime period was about to end, Buffalo managed to shake
off a big blueline bodycheck from one of the Amerks and put the puck into
the Rochester net.
Dick Marion, manager of the Americans, credited Buffalo goaltender Josh
Shamrock for playing a great overtime period. Marion believes the Amerks
had an excellent chance at winning it all if one of those scoring chances
had been converted.
"'If' is the biggest word in the dictionary," he said.
Rochester went on to defeat Kingston 7-2 to win the A consolation final.
Marion said the team enjoyed its return to the Cardinal tournament and
looks forward to what he described as a great event.
"We'll be back," he added.
Callaghan also gave credit to the tournament committee chaired by Carolyn
Mason. The coach also gave high marks to Lucas Stitt and James Halladay,
the local youngsters who served as monitors with the Elgin Middlesex team.
"They were the best," Callaghan said. "We'll remember both
of them."
SG coach proud of team
CARDINAL The minor midget tournament was a learning experience
for the host team, according to Rangers coach Ryan Hayes.
South Grenville opened the tournament Friday morning by taking on the
Kingston Predators. Kingston dominated the host team and won 11-1. Josh
Joudoin had the Rangers' lone goal; assists went to Braden Dukelow and Mike
Leeder.
In its second game, South Grenville matched up well against Kanata Friday
night. The game ended 2-2 in regulation, but Kanata won in overtime. Matthew
Deeks scored both goals for the Rangers, with assists going to Wes Polite,
Nathaniel Hayes and Mike Lawrence.
"That was just tremendous," coach Hayes told The Journal.
The Rangers' third game was against a strong Rochester Americans squad.
Rochester was too much for the home team; although Dukelow scored early
in the second period to make it 3-1 Rochester, the Amerks replied with six
unanswered goals for a 9-1 final.
Despite the two lopsided losses in which the Rangers were "somewhat
humbled," coach Hayes said he was proud of the team's performance at
the tournament. He said it was a learning experience the players should
keep in mind as they return to their own playoff run this week.
South Grenville's trainer, Ann Marie Polite, was selected to the tournament's
all-star team.
Everybody has a favourite tournament moment
From canteen and Easter eggs to autographs, we all enjoy hometown
hockey
By Cortney Willard, Special to The Journal
The midget AA/AAA tournaments are new for some, but memorable for all.
Every player, coach and fan may have a different favourite part of the tournament,
but they all have one.
Michael Allan, 12, and Shane Riddell, 8, were in Cardinal for the minor
midget tournament for the first time. They travelled down with the Cumberland
Barons and help out the team with water bottles, sticks and slugging equipment.
"Winning the games is my favourite part of the tournament, but the
pro shop in the rink is great too," said Riddell, who hopes to one
day play in the annual tournament.
"Eating is my favourite part," laughed Allan, pointing to the
canteen in the Cardinal arena.
John Lawless, 7, of Crystal Rock said his second trip to the tournament
was good, but his most memorable part was "meeting Rob Pearson, the
coach for Atlanta. I like him because he used to play for the Leafs and
he still likes them."
Lawless also found the visiting teams to be quite generous with their
time and memorabilia. "California gave me Easter eggs and Kitchener
gave me a hockey pen."
Lawless was also holding a tournament book that was full of autographs
from the players, which he says they were happy to give.
Father of #17 from Clarington, Harold Jukic, was impressed with the level
of organization of the tournament.
"This is my first year here. The organizers recognize that this
may be some of these kids last year of hockey and they go out of their way
to make it special for them. The tournaments in Toronto are all a money
grab, but at this tournament the focus is on the kids, where it should be,"
he stated
Jukic mentioned the players in Toronto are lucky to even get a trophy
for winning a championship, but he thought Prescott and Cardinal did a great
job of recognizing every player's efforts and abilities, with no player
going home empty-handed.
Jukic also went on to say what many local residents have known for years.
"I didn't think this kind of hometown hockey existed anymore."
Coach of the Don Mills Flyers, John Bird, also enjoyed his weekend in
Prescott.
"We really have had a good time here. We were treated well by all
of the people here."
Bird went on to say his team was here last year in the minor midget tournament
in Cardinal and was looking forward to coming back this year as major midgets. | 
