They started out as Young Simbas, but by the end of the tournament, they
were the Lion Kings. With just 2 exhibition games to help them get ready,
the Young Lions took to the ice on Thursday January 24 and Friday January 25
to compete against 7 other public school teams. Made up of a combination of
Grade 6s and 5s, many of whom have never played with one another, the boys
were pitted against 3 tough teams (Bedford Park, Rolph Road, John Wanless
Grade 6) in their round robin games. Looking like they’ve played together
for a while, they did what they had to do and ended up winning their
division, putting them in the tournament final vs Brown.
As they readied for the championship game, the Young Lions heeded the words
of The Great One put forth by Coaches Gross, Grossman and Nuttall (sounds
like a law firm!): “Hockey is a unique sport in the sense that you need each
and every guy helping each other and pulling in the same direction to be
successful.” As they did in all of their games, the team played hard, played
strong two way hockey, and never gave up. Down 2-0, the boys stormed back
with 2 quick ones toward the end of the 2nd period. Trailing 3-2 with little
time left, the boys executed a perfect pulling of the goalie and scored the
game-tying goal – with just 3 seconds left. You could not have written a
more exciting ending. Unfortunately, the boys lost a heartbreaker in OT with
1 minute left, but there were no tears – this was a hard fought game and a
thrilling one at that, and the boys were proud of their showing.
PSY may have Gangnam style but the Young Lions impressed with their own
version of “Allenby-Style” hockey. Congratulations to Jayden Andrews, Kaidan
Ang, Jake Austin, Ben Chan, Caleb Cho, Lucas Chua, Ethan Forster, Jack
Goldstein, Ryan Gross, Cole Grossman, Connor Hicks, Luke Jansen-Faught, Eric
Kerbel, Tyson Lowe, Max Nuttall, Chris Power, Ben Rowatt, Eli Trestan and
Dylan Wagman.
