Champions

After 12 hours in arenas, 11 hours of driving, and 4 hours of hockey, there is a Champion.  And C4th is it.

 

Now, not all those hours were spent on the championship, Nate was in there too.  And when he plays his last game on Wednesday, I’ll write a post about him too.

But today?  Today is Quin.

He came first in his division,

nobody could touch them, actually,

and that put him in the Western Ontario Finals.

To see who was the best Atom LL team in all of Western Ontario.

It was to be determined in a best of three series against the

Walkerton Capitals.

C4th won the first game 4-3, Quin got a goal and an assist.

Then, to make it interesting, Walkerton won game two, 2-1,  in overtime.  With 27 seconds left.  Heart-breaking.

So on we went to game three, also to be played in Walkerton, as they won the flip.

Before the game. 

Quin likes to be there early, to chat with the guys, get ready, and stretch.  He came out to the lobby to stretch, and I got a picture.

Out on the ice.

C4th and Walkerton are pretty closely matched..

They have a couple of really dirty players, though.

But it’s good, exciting hockey to watch.

 

Walkerton scored in the first period. 

C4th had lot’s of chances, but just couldn’t bury the puck.

Trevor, our goalie, stood on his head to save the puck.  There was many times all the fans leapt to their feet to cheer for him.  He played an amazing game, and made some incredible saves.

 

Finally, in the second period, Quin deked the goalie, and buried the puck from his back-hand, shooting backwards, behind himself.

It looked at first like he had over skated and wouldn’t get a shot, but he buried it.  Beautiful goal.

The third period ended in a 1-1 tie, so it went to a 10min overtime.

Which ended in a 1-1 tie.

Soooooo, we went to a second 10min overtime.

The parents all needed a couple shots of whiskey by this time.

Steve lost his voice from yelling and cheering..

I was scaring Ava with how much I was jumping up and yelling…

It was craziness.

The scoreboard.

Fifth period.  1-1.  3 minutes left.

With one minute left in double overtime, the Stars make a rush!

Jack gets it in the corner, passes to Ben, Ben passes to Quin,

Quin, “The Rocket” Ryan,

skates in on the goalie and roofs it into the top of the net,

right under the crossbar. 

Goalie did not have a chance of saving it.

They won.

Then the whole team piled on top of Quin…

the parents and fans were going crazy,

it was pandemonium.

(Quin wants me to say, “See the puck in the net?”)

Celebrating..

Then they all lined up to receive their medals.

The boys on both ends are two of the best defensemen on the team.

Without Riley and Luke, they would not have won.

 

 

Watching Walkerton receive their “first loser” medals.

Oops.  I mean second place medals.

 

Quinlan receives his medal.  Only he wasn’t announced as Quinlan.  He’s The Rocket.

Cheering boys…

The Rocket Ryan.  Watching the proceedings.

Cheering for team mates receiving their medals.

The four boys who are leaving Atom accepted the trophy, but all the other boys got in there pretty quick!!

What number are you?

You’re #1!

A tired boy and his trophy and medal.

 

So, to reiterate, Quinlan got 2 goals in a 2-1 win in double overtime of the Western Ontario Championship game.

And he always has to be the last to leave the ice.

Read the official write-up here