For the first time in 22 years, the Timmins Majors are the champs of the Great North U-18 Hockey League.
The second-place team in the regular season beat the first-place Sudbury Cubs 2-1 Sunday afternoon, in the gold medal game at the league finals tournament in Sudbury.
Majors GM Ron Holmes is bursting with pride.
“The boys were in beast mode, if you will,” he remarks, “went into the weekend with a mission, with a plan, and the boys never altered from that or went off the rails at any point in time, despite facing quite a bit of adversity.”
Not the least of that diversity was a five-minute penalty late in the game, when it was tied 1-1. Holmes says the players rallied instead of buckling.
“The boys put the effort in, they were blocking shots, there was a huge team effort, managed to kill it off and if you ask me, that was the difference in the game.”
The winning goal was scored a couple minutes later.
Now it’s off to the Soo April 7th to 14th for the Central Ontario Regionals. The team is hoping for community support to pay the $40,000 needed for that trip.
The Telus Cup nationals are in Nova Scotia April 22nd to 28th.
Here’s our complete interview with GM Ron Holmes: