By Darren Friesen /
The Mississauga Braves had planned on taking the Thanksgiving Weekend off. Instead coach John Ialeggio was asked by his counterpart organization – the Mississauga Terriers – to enter his squad in the annual Terry Terriers Invitational. Looking back, Ialeggio made a
wise decision.
The Minor Atom Braves won the annual Terriers Invitational recently and not only picked up a trophy for their efforts but also got a league win.
“The GTHL only lets teams play in three tournaments every year but they made a special exemption for us to play in this tournament because the division only had two teams,” explained Ialeggio. “Part of the agreement was that we would also count one of our games as a league game, which worked out good for us because we won that too.”
It was the Braves’ dramatic final victory that made the headlines, though. With less than two minutes remaining, the Braves were trailing Sudbury by a goal. Ialeggio decided to pull his goaltender, and the extra man led to the equalizer. The overtime didn’t last long because the Braves’ second unit over the boards notched the winner with a backhand top corner.
“It’s always great to win but to win in that fashion, especially after having played so much... it was fun” said Ialeggio. “It’s really great, though, to be able to help out another organization, especially this one because it helps out some great causes. For the kids, it’s also great to play in these tournaments because the competition is always strong and we get to play against other teams, which is always fun.”
In other action, the Minor Bantam Terriers were the only host team to win. It took two overtime periods and 3-on-3 action, but the Terriers finally solved Southtown in the dying seconds of the second overtime.
In another astonishing feat during this annual tourney, the Outaouis Intrepride only allowed two goals in five games in the Bantam division and ultimately bested the GR Griffins for the title. |