The U18AA Peterborough Petes went undefeated at the 2024 Ottawa Winter Classic this past weekend with an impressive 6-0 record, winning the 13-team tournament in dramatic fashion.
Peterborough was dominate in round robin play with a record of 4-0 by beating Gloucester 6-2, Kanata 5-1, and two teams from PEI, Mid-Isle 7-2 and Pownal 6-1. As a result, Peterborough finished first overall in their pool and earned a bye through to the semi-finals.
In the semi-finals Peterborough knocked off a strong Waterloo team with a hard fought 3-1 win, advancing to the finals. Goals were scored by Cole Brady, Jake Stinson, and Terry Vokey, with assists by Stinson (2), Owen Sturge (2), and Max Simon.
Meeting the Petes in the finals were the Outaouais West Dragons, a very talented team from Quebec and the winners of pool B. After a scoreless first period, Outaouais scored late in the second to give themselves a 1-0 lead and had Peterborough trail for the first time all tournament. The Petes remained determined and continued to apply pressure throughout the final period. Finally, with 6 minutes remaining Stinson fired a shot from the hash marks and tying the game 1-1, and ultimately sending the game to 3 vs 3 overtime. AJ Whitney and Vokey had the helpers on the goal. 5 minutes of OT solved nothing, which meant the game - and the tournament - was going to be decided by a shootout. No goals were scored by either team through 5 rounds of shootout, however Owen Sturge broke the deadlock by scoring in the 6th round giving the Petes the win. Gavin Hill was stellar between the pipes and backstopped the victory by stopping all 6 shooters, as well as a 3rd period penalty shot.
Over the weekend Peterborough was led by their captain, Jake Stinson, who scored 8 goals and 5 assists for 13 points, and led the entire tournament in points. The Petes had 12 different goal scorers, and every player registered at least a point in the tournament. The Petes had outstanding performances from their netminders, Gavin Hill and Adam Chamberlain. Hill posted a 1.25 Goals Against Average and Chamberlain had a 1.50 Goals Against Average throughout the tournament, and together allowed only 8 goals through 6 games.
Team members include Cole Brady, Dawson Corfe, Emery Dennis, Cade Dunford, Griffin Hartwick, Quinn Jacobs, Zac Leeson, Zakk Rose, Cooper Schiller, Max Simon, Jake Stinson, Owen Sturge, Luke Tataryn, Jagger Thompson, Terry Vokey, AJ Whitney, Adam Chamberlain, and Gavin Hill.