The South Bruce Bantam Reps have made history. They are the first South Bruce Minor Hockey Team to win an All-Ontario Championship. The team won the OMHA title in Norwood on Saturday, March 22nd, after defeating the Norwood Hornets three games straight.
The Bantams began their quest for the All-Ontario title back in January after receiving a bye in the first round of the playoffs. They played the Seaforth Stars in the second round and won the series three games straight with scores of 9 to 1, 8 to 1 and 5 to 0.
The next series was the quarter-finals and the boys faced off against the Six Nations Blackhawks from Ohsweken. This series proved to be more aggressive and very rough, but our boys pushed through and took the series in 5 games. They recorded scores of, 5 to 0, 3 to 1, 2 to 3, 2 to 3 and 5 to 1.
The semi-final series saw the team paired-up with the Lucan Irish. The team took this series again three games straight, with scores of 4 to 1, 8 to 1 and 5 to 2.
After successfully completing their semi-final series, the Bantams Reps were now ready to go for the OMHA Championship title against the Norwood Hornets.
The final series began on Saturday, March 15th with the first game being hosted by the Norwood Hornets. Before the game the Hornets hosted the parents and players to a meal and a meet and greet and then it was time to play hockey.
The South Bruce team came out quick scoring within the first minute of play on a goal by Captain Logan Tolton assisted by Wes Diemert. The Hornets would also score in the first, leaving the period tied. South Bruce would find the back of the net twice in the second period with goals from Wes Diemert assisted by Logan Tolton and Rhys Martin assisted by Ty Turnbull. The Bantams would break after two periods with a 3 to 1 lead. However, the third period was full excitement. The Hornets scored at the midway point of the third making the score 3 to 2. When it looked like South Bruce would take the game, the Hornets scored with 40 seconds left to tie the game. South Bruce would then take a penalty with 16 seconds left to play. Short-handed, the boy’s final face-off took place deep in the Hornet’s end with 3.2 seconds left on the clock. There was a scramble for the puck after the face-off then assistant captain Jared Liesemer was able to take control the puck, shot on the net and score with a mere 0.1 seconds left to give South Bruce the win, 4 to 3 and take game one of the series.
Game two would be the only home game of the series for South Bruce. This game was played on Sunday, March 16th in Mildmay. Once again, in true South Bruce style the boys lite up the scoreboard with three goals in the first four minutes of the game. The first goal was scored by Nick Kieswetter assisted by Wes Diemert and Shawn Letteau. The second goal was off the stick of Wes Diemert assisted by Nick Kieswetter. Rhys Martin scored the third goal on assists from Wes Diemert and Logan Tolton. The Bantams managed to keep to Hornets from scoring for the remainder of the first period. The second period would only see one goal scored. It was scored by the Hornets near the end of the period. The third period was full of scoring opportunities and penalties for both teams. Norwood would continue the scoring with 9 minutes left in the period to make the score 3 to 2. South Bruce would answer the goal with 4 minutes left with Nick Kieswetter scoring on an assists from Wes Diemert and Jared Liesemer, giving South Bruce a 4 to 2 lead. However, the Hornet’s would keep the pressure on and score with only 29 seconds left in the game to bring the score within 1. To put the icing on the cake, Nick Kieswetter scored with only 3 seconds left on the clock. His hat-trick goal was assisted by Mitch Borth and Wes Diemert. This would give South Bruce the win with a score of 5 to 3, taking the series 2 game to 0. Following the game, the Bantams hosted the Norwood players, coaches and parents to a meal before they started the long trip home.
The following weekend would see South Bruce travel to Norwood for Game 3 on Saturday, March 22nd. The team left the Mildmay arena early due to road conditions from the heavy snow fall from the night before. A second bus was added for this trip due to fan support. The team was very thankful for the extra time and extra bus as the team bus broke down in Arthur. However, it wasn’t long until the hockey gear was moved into the fan bus and the players, coaching staff and some parents were back on the road. The faithful fans wait patiently for another bus to arrive to continue the trip to Norwood. Thanks to the quick work of Kunkel Bus Lines the fans arrive in Norwood before the puck dropped. The scoring for this third game would take a while to start but when it did the South Bruce Bantams would dominate the game. The first goal was scored with only 1 minute left to play in the first period. This goal was scored by Logan Tolton assisted by his brother Caleb Tolton and Nick Kieswetter. During the second period South Bruce would score two more goals. These goals were scored by Wes Diemert assisted by Nick Kieswetter and by Nick Kieswetter assisted by Logan Tolton. This gave South Bruce a 3 to 0 lead going into the intermission. Within 30 seconds of the start of the third period South Bruce scored on a goal from Wes Diemert assisted by Nick Kieswetter. However, the next goal belonged to the Norwood Hornets; this would be their only goal of the game. The Bantam’s rounded out the third period with two more goals. One would be from the stick of Rhys Martin assisted by Ty Turnbull and Ayden Tiffin. The other scored on a rush from defensemen Mitch Borth assisted by Logan Tolton. This would give the South Bruce Bantams the win with a score of 6 to 1. The boys took the final series three games straight and earn them the title of All-Ontario Bantam “C” Champions.
The South Bruce Bantam Reps have a very successful year. They finished the season with an impressive 42-5-5 record. In addition to their All-Ontario win, the team won the Georgian Shores Fall Classic Tournament in October and the Regional Silver Stick Tournament in Kincardine in December. The winning continued when the team brought home the banner from the International Silver Stick Tournament in Forest in January. Through the WOAA playoffs the boys won their respective division and were finalist in the Cruickshank division.
Congratulations to the South Bruce Bantam Rep Team on your very successful hockey season and on your historic first All-Ontario win for South Bruce Minor Hockey. Special thanks to the coaching staff, parents and numerous fans for all the support.
Members of the South Bruce Bantam Team as pictured:
Front: Spencer Reinhardt and Zach Girdler
Middle: Rhys Martin, Logan Tolton, Ayden Tiffin, Jared Liesemer, Mitch Borth and Ty Turnbull
Back: Steve Tiffin (Asst. Manager) Dwayne Letteau (Asst. Coach), Wes Diemert, Shawn Letteau, Caleb Tolton, Mac Fischer, Nick Kieswetter, Caleb Reuber, Owen Schiestel, Paul Tolton (Coach), Scott Girdler (Trainer), absent Ken Schiestel (Asst. Trainer).