Tornados classy effort at OHA's

While the West Ferris Sports Tornados didn't achieve the outcome that they had hoped for at the Major Peewee AA provincial Championships they certainly did represent themselves, West Ferris Hockey and North Bay well.

In game 1 of the tournament a huge effort from Dylan Staples and goaltender Timmy Falconi held North Toronto (the ultimate tournament champions) to a 3-3 tie with goals coming from Staples (2) and Ryan Robertson. Dylan Staples was named the game MVP for the Tornados. In game 2 in spite of Tanner Owca's unrelenting MVP performance (3 goals,1assist) and a goal from Gabriel Rancourt the Tornados fell to the London Junior Knights 5-4 in an exciting back and forth game. Game 3 was another intense game in which the Tornados met the North York Knights the captain being the son of NHL'er Shane Corson. The game was another intense battle which saw a ton of action at either end but even with a gutsy performance from Kristofer Faucon game MVP (1goal, 1assist), Dylan Staples (2 goals) and Gabriel Rancourt (3 assists) the Tornados ultimately fell to the Knights 5-3. In their game 4 loss versus the Orangville Flyers Gabriel Rancourt scored the Tornados lone goal in the final minutes to end the game 5-1. Ryan Robertson an affiliate player earned the game MVP.

Coach Lui Ricci was proud of the boys season.

"We set a goal at the beginning of the season to win the NOHA's and we did that," he said.

"We set a new goal goal to be competitive at the Ontario Championships and we did that, we certainly would have liked to come home with the hardware but we didn't get the bounces this time. A number of our players were ailing including Josh Storie who was unable to participate as a result of his broken collar bone and Kyle Baril who broke his wrist and was knocked him out of the tournament before it started. We had two affiliate players who played and fit in quite nicely but in the end we came up a little short we didn't get the breaks this time. I am proud of the way our boys carried themselves in the Championship tournament and the entire season. They played the best Peewee AA teams in the province and for the most part were very competitive, we even tied North Toronto now the OHF champions. I knew that we have a team that could compete at this level and I believe that this team firing on all cylinders could come home with the title. Either way I couldn't be any prouder of these boys and their efforts they are a great team!"

Other contributors for the Tornados include: Dustin Hummel, Chris Saltstone, Mike Perrin, Travis Rose, Ryley Valade, Graham Knox, Devin Marshall, Mike Mason, Brad Cauchy, Addison Robidas, Tait Seguin and Zach Deschenes (affiliate) and team staff Lui Ricci, PJ Anello, Dan Owca, Don Valade and Tim Falconi.

Submitted to BayToday.ca