Prior to this past weekend's tournament win by the NOTL Wolves U18 Rep Team in Lindsay, several NOTL Wolves local league teams ventured out to St. Jacobs for the Woolwich Minor Hockey Association Winter Tournament.
The final games were held in the Snyder arena in the town of Elmira - population just approaching 11,000. The community centre was state of the art and bustling. It housed two swimming pools, two ice pads, a running track, a gym and even an indoor pickleball court. Many of the parents from NOTL were impressed by the facility and expressed how great it would be if we had something similar in NOTL.
In between games many of the parents took the opportunity to visit the St. Jacob's Farmers' Market. Established in 1975, it's the largest year-round indoor/outdoor farmers' market in the country, welcoming more than a million visitors annually.
The teams had a blast and our U18 Local League Team 2 came home with heavy-duty hardware having beaten the Thorton Tigers 3-1 in the championship game. The Tigers had lost only two games all season before settling for the silver medal against NOTL.
Coach James Cadeau standing with his team expressed his feelings: "I am really happy for the players. Every one of them contributed in their own way to the victory. They wanted it and played very responsible and disciplined team hockey."