Nov 24, 2021 | Rob Binkley | 1395 views
Nazem Kadri North London Classic Finalists
Congratulations to our North London Nationals U14MD team for an extremely hard fought and well earned silver medal!
The coaching staff, parents and fans could not be more proud of the effort and attitude of the team that ultimately brought themselves a silver medal with a dramatic shoot out loss to the Brantford 99ers in the final. Congratulations to the 99ers as well.
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The coaching staff could not be any more impressed with the effort and attitude of the team this past weekend at the Nazem Kadri North London Classic. The team started out playing the undefeated Brantford 99ers in their opener on Friday and fought hard for a tie, which would ultimately propel them to a second place finish out of the 11 team U14 division. With wins over Burlington 4-3, Aurora 6-0 and Stouffville 2-1, the Nationals U14 team advanced to the semi-finals against the Cambridge Hawks. Using their signature pressure attack they would move on from the semi's with a 4-2 victory.
With the stage set for a rematch with the Brantford 99ers in the finals, the team got off to a great start dominating the first period 10-3 on the shot clock. But Brantford fought hard and opened the scoring, then the Nationals answered before Brantford once again took the lead. True to the Nationals form this year, they did not give up and evened the score at 2-2 with 4 minutes to go in the third frame. A penalty to the Nationals with one minute to go in regulation ramped up the drama, but the Nationals would not give and and fought off the man advantage into overtime. With the tide seeming to turn and the Nationals resuming their pressure game, they once again faced adversity in the eye with Zach Williamson stopping a rare overtime penalty shot to keep the Nationals hopes alive. With time winding down the Nationals applied pressure but could not find the back of the net and would ultimately fall to the 99ers in the skills competition/shoot out, 2-0. Based on the end result, the Nationals received their silver medals at center ice, but as far as the coaching staff was concerned, this should be considered a gold! Congratulations again boys, great job!
A special mention to the Players of the Game for the tournament who showed true Nationals spirit with grit and determination:
Caleb Joynt-Couture
Jack Binkley
Zach Williamson
Jaden Salmoni
Jack Flick
Hurrdy Situ
And a special mention to the Nationals U11 MD Team for overcoming long odds and completing an amazing comeback win in their final game to be crowned champions! Way to go U11, you made all Nationals proud!