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Steam bring Cup home to Tottenham

April 13, 2016   ·   0 Comments

By Brian Lockhart
The Tottenham Steam celebrated their 2016 Greater Metro Hockey League Russell Cup championship win by bringing the cup home to Tottenham for a fan celebration at the Tottenham Legion last Thursday (April 7).
The Steam won the Cup in a best-of seven final series against the Kingsville Kings in a match that went the distance and ended with a 6-1 in game seven on Kingsville home ice.
It was the end of a long season that saw the Steam lose only one game then go undefeated in the first three rounds of the playoffs.
“Our guys were so focused, determined, and ready to go in the final game. We had a great meeting before the start of the game and talked about responsibilities and goals and expectations and what it will take to win in hostile territory,” said head coach Ryan Wood of the final game. “The guys put it all together and played a full 60 minutes.”
The Steam had to pull it together after taking a loss on home ice in game six and giving up a 3-1 lead to lose 5-3. That game cost them the chance of winning the cup on home ice and put the pressure on them to win the final game in a one-shot winner take all game in Kingsville.
“We stayed out of the box and played five-on-five (in the final game).” Wood said. “We took three penalties all game. And that’s the difference. Their (Kingsville) power play was so good all series. That was a huge momentum booster for them because in a five-on-five they couldn’t keep up with us. On a power play they were very skilled in the back end.”
Team captain Kevin Walker said the team was ready for game seven of the series and learned a lesson from the game six loss.
“It was amazing. We had a game plan and we stuck to it. Everybody competed right from the get-go and we came out on top, he said. “We started off so strong in game six. We came out flying and we let up and they capitalized and they took it to us. It was tough to lose at home but home ice advantage didn’t mean a whole lot in this series. We took three games there and they took two in our barn.”
Overall the Steam had a huge season winning the division and also the league title.
“I think it was phenomenal. Everybody worked so hard all season,” Walker said. “Everybody bought into the program and we all worked hard together and we came out on top and it was great.”
The Steam garnered a big following in Tottenham with the Community Centre arena the place to be on home game nights and a lot of loyal fans could be seen at every home game.
The Legion was packed during the final celebration with the town having a chance to meet the players on an individual basis and give them a final cheer for a job well done.

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