By Dan Plouffe
Competing in the first two of 19 championship games at Scotiabank Place, the Nepean Wildcats left their mark by competing in both finals of the lone girls’ divisions at the 2013 Bell Capital Cup.
“It’s really nice to see local teams from Nepean get to the finals,” says Jay Greco, the coach of the Wildcats Atom ‘AA’ team. “It was a fantastic tournament. The kids loved every minute of it.”
Nepean allowed just one goal in four Peewee ‘AA’ round robin matches – during a 1-1 tie with the Toronto Leaside Wildcats – but rectified that record with a 2-0 victory in the rematch for the gold. Sarah Kosnaskie and Abygail Moloughney scored in the final, while Maeve Dixon and Marina Martin were the goaltenders behind the near-perfect defensive record.
With several players battling illness, the Atom Nepean team stuck with the Oakville Hornets for most of two periods but wound up running out of gas and falling 8-2 in the final – their fifth game in three days.
Having teams in both finals was a feather in the cap for the Nepean Wildcats organization, which Greco has seen grow substantially since he first started coaching his eldest of four daughters 14 years ago.
“We’re very fortunate to have such a great group of dedicated volunteers,” he notes, pointing to the large number of competitive teams throughout the association, and the newfound success of the Provincial Women’s Hockey League club. “It’s been really organized well from the ground up.”
Greco looks at the Capital Cup as another good building block for his group on their road to the provincial championships, which will take place in Ottawa alongside the IIHF women’s hockey world championships April 2-9.
“My gage on hockey is, ‘get as much ice time as you can,’” underlines Greco, whose team made the finals of two previous tournaments as well, losing in Sudbury and winning in Kanata. “Win or lose, you’re always learning, and these are dedicated, competitive girls who always work hard to get better.”
On the boys’ side, the Ottawa Valley Silver Seven and the Ottawa Sting won the biggest prizes out of local teams. The Silver Seven earned the Major Atom ‘AAA’ crown with a 2-1 victory over the Gloucester Rangers, while the Sting knocked off the Ottawa Senators 1-0 for Major Peewee ‘AAA’ gold.
The Ottawa West Golden Knights beat the Sting 2-1 for the Major Peewee ‘A’ title, the Silver Seven topped the Kanata Blazers 4-3 to triumph in Minor Atom ‘AA’, and the West End Ice Hogs A2 downed the SouthEnd Capitals 2-0 in the Peewee House ‘A’ final.
In Minor Peewee ‘AAA’, the Silver Seven lost a 6-5 double-overtime heartbreaker to the Rochester Monarchs, while the Sting dropped a 2-1 Minor Peewee ‘A’ overtime final to the Grimsby Peach Kings, and the Stittsville Stormhawks C1 fell 4-1 to the North Franklin Shamrocks in the Atom House ‘C’ category.
In the Minor Peewee ‘AA’ division, Jokerit Blue from Finland downed their host billet team, the Ottawa Valley Silver Seven, in the semi-final en route to a title win over the New Jersey Colonials.
Other local semi-finalists in competitive divisions included the Cumberland Jr. Grads (Major Peewee ‘AA’, Minor Atom ‘AA’), the Gloucester Rangers (Minor Peewee ‘AAA’, Minor Atom ‘AA’), the Kanata Blazers (Minor Peewee ‘AAA’, Major Atom ‘AAA’, Major Atom ‘AA’), the Ottawa West Golden Knights (Minor Peewee ‘A’, Major Atom ‘B’), the Nepean Raiders (Major Atom ‘AAA’) and the Eastern Ontario Wild (Major Peewee ‘AAA’).