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New Tec Ball hockey wins two National Championships

August 11, 2022   ·   0 Comments

The New Tecumseth Ball Hockey league went to Winnipeg, MB, on July 28-31 to compete in the Canadian Ball Hockey Association 2022 Junior National Championships and produced some stellar results with two of the teams winning the national title.

The League competed in four divisions – U15 boys, U17 boys, U19 boys, and U19 girls.

The teams had to go through qualifying to be able to compete. They were up against some of the best teams in the country.

Other teams at the tournament represented a province.

Because the New Tecumseth team is not a provincial team, but a local one, they really got a lot of attention because no one had heard of the town, but were impressed at the quality of the players and skill of the New Tecumseth teams.

In all, around 100 New Tec players and coaches made the trip. They were backed by a good contingent of parents and grandparents who made the trip to watch them compete. They hired physiotherapists in Winnipeg to look after the kids during and between games.

The U15 boys team won their championship in an exciting 3-2 overtime win over the British Columbia

Wolverines, after coming back from a 2-0 deficit.

The U19 boys team returned home as national champions.

The U17 boys team finished with a bronze medal.

Rounding out the delegation, the U19 girls team went to the semi-final round of competition.

To round out the U19 girls team, many of the players were young players from a U16 team who played up division.

“We merged those younger players with the U19 team to make a team,” said League president Carlo Carlucci. “They were willing to go even though they knew they were playing against players that were two years older, and their performance was just as admirable as anyone else out there. They were in every game and fought right to the bitter end.”

Carlo said he believes the fact that New Tec teams have local kids who know each other and play together year after year, is a big factor in their success.

“With an event like this, and the opposition we faced, it’s just unbelievable that we are competing against some of these teams. The kids on our teams come predominantly from our community, and we are competing with provincial teams, and not only do we compete with them, we find a way of winning.”

Many of the Western teams have experienced high level ice hockey players who bring those skills to the ball hockey arena.

“All the western teams, from B.C., Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba, have high level ice hockey players. The majority of our kids are ice hockey players, but we don’t have nearly the ice hockey background that these other teams have. They were playing the best players in their age group in all of Canada, and B.C. and Newfoundland, at the opposite corners of the country typically have the most powerful organizations, and we’re right up there with them. We had a huge entourage of parents and grandparents that made the trip. Their excitement at the game was just unreal.”

The New Tec Ball Hockey League produces some great players and teams over the years and they have competed at both the National and International level.

By Brian Lockhart

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