The FCI Windows Atom AA Peterborough Petes captured their third-straight OMHA championship with a 9-2 win over the Orangeville Flyers Saturday, March 24.
The Petes went into the game with a 2-0 series lead after winning games one and two last weekend in Orangeville.
In game three, Peterborough opened up a 2-1 lead after one period, then scored five more goals in the second frame to skate into the third period with a 7-2 lead.
The Petes would score two more times for the 9-2 win and their third OMHA title in as many years.
Peterborough now advances to the Ontario Hockey Federation championship in North Bay on April 13 to 15. The tournament features the champions of the OMHA, Greater Toronto Hockey League, Northern Ontario Hockey Association and Minor Hockey Alliance of Ontario. The teams will compete in a weekend tournament to crown the all-Ontario champion. The OHF championships only take place in major age years (atom, peewee, bantam and midget).
Peterborough goes into the tournament as the top-ranked atom AA team in Ontario with a record of 68 wins, four losses and three ties.
They began the season by winning the Kawartha Lakes AA tournament, and followed that up in November by winning the highly-competitive London Green and White Tournament.
In December, the team competed at the Nations Cup AAA tournament in Michigan (the team had four wins and one loss to help Team Canada win the tournament championship).
And in January, they won the prestigious International Silver Stick championship in Sarnia.
In the OMHA playdowns, Peterborough swept Whitby in the first round, then faced a top-ranked Clarington in the second round. Game one saw the two teams play to a 2-2 tie, while Clarington took game two with a 4-3 win in overtime. Yet that lone playoff loss seemed to wake the Petes up. The team would go to win three straight games over Clarington, posting shutouts in each.