2017-2018 Atom AA | Jan 15, 2018 | mfarrugia | 1286 views
FCI Windows Atom AA Peterborough Petes win Silver Stick Finals
The FCI Windows atom AA Peterborough Petes have won the International Silver Stick championship. The team won the title Sunday (Jan. 14) in a hard-fought game against the top-ranked Stratford Warriors.
"Stratford wanted us bad as we've never played them before,” says head coach Mike Farrugia.
“We knew they were a trapping team, so we put in a few breakout options to beat it.”
The Warriors were the first to get on the scoreboard in the championship game with a goal halfway through the first period. However, the Petes scored twice within a two-minute span early in the second period to take the lead.
The Warriors almost tied it up on a late second-period power play, but the Petes were able to kill off the penalty.
Then, at the 13-minute mark of the third period, the Petes broke free on a breakaway and scored to make it 3-1. Peterborough would add an empty-net goal to seal the championship with a 4-1 win.
With the victory, the Petes have their names etched in hockey history. Once all of the division champions are decided, the Silver Stick plaque, which lists the names of the championship teams for the year, will be displayed in the Hockey Hall of Fame.
"The Silver Stick is a bucket list hockey item, for sure, as it's right up there with an OMHA championship,” Farrugia says.
Peterborough allowed just four goals in six games in the tournament. Offensively, the team had seven players finish in the top 11 of tournament scoring.
"We had three lines going hard and contributing, our defense were solid and both goalies stopped almost everything. Allowing only four goals against those teams is incredible,” Farrugia says.
The Silver Stick finals took place in Sarnia from Jan. 11 to 14. The Petes earned a spot in the 16-team tournament by winning November’s Georgina Regional Qualifier.
Peterborough opened the tournament Friday morning (Jan. 12) with a 5-0 win over the Montgomery Blue Devils. They followed that up in the afternoon with a 6-1 win over the Winterhurst Warriors.
On Saturday, the Petes finished up round-robin play with a 6-0 win over the Burlington Eagles.
With the victory, the team also captured top spot in their pool and a berth to the quarter-finals Saturday night.
In the quarter-finals, the team defeated the Warwick Wildcats 5-2.
In the semi-finals, Peterborough was matched up against the speedy St. Louis Rockets. Peterborough got on the scoreboard early in the first period, then scored three more times in the first five minutes of the second frame.
Going into the third period with a 4-0 lead, the Petes added two more goals for the 6-0 win.
In the finals, Peterborough defeated the Stratford Warriors, one of the best AA teams in Ontario.
The Petes have won each tournament they have competed in this year — the Kawartha Lakes AA tournament, the London Green and White tournament, the Georgina Regional Silver Stick and the Nations Cup.
Despite suffering two losses and a tie prior to the Christmas break, the team is now 10-0 in 2018.
"The boys really came out of the Christmas break ready to go,” Farrugia says. “We sort of limped home, playing almost 50 games before Christmas.”
The team will close out the regular season with three more games in the coming week, then prepare for the first round of the OMHA playdowns and a chance to win the championship.