Dallas started the tournament with a mission and marched undefeated and did it in grand Texas style! The saying still holds true ... "Everything is BIG in Texas".
We were proud to have Dallas and their cross town rivals the Texas Tornado at our tournament along with a wide variety of teams at our 2nd Annual MidgetAAACanada.com Cup giving everyone a chance to see teams from all over!
Certainly a big celebration of the quality of minor hockey from across North America.
As a 12 year Head Coach, I was always excited to bring my teams to tournaments with a diverse group of teams not only to play against, but to watch as a fan.
We had teams came from Alaska, California, Texas, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Missouri as well as at least one representative from each of the Midget AAA leagues in Ontario. What a thrill!
The Ice Jets started the tournament playing in the "Big Bowl" at the new state of the art WFCU (Windsor Federal Credit Union Centre) home of Canada's 2009 Memorial Cup Champions OHL Windsor Spitfires, and ended it there too.
Their journey started with a 6-4 win over the host Windsor Jr. Spitfires in a great game that had the score at 4-2 at the end of the first period.
Then the second period ended 5-3, but surely not in the bag yet. Then Windsor scored at 11:18 of the third period to make it 5-4, but Dallas answered back quickly less than a minute later to ride the 6-4 score into shore for win #1
Game two the Ice Jets dominate the Pittsburgh Predators 8-2 as the 2009 MidgetAAACanada.com Tournament MVP - Defensive Scott Browning scored a hat trick. Very exciting indeed. Congratulations Scott!
In the third contest against the young Guelph Storm, Dallas got off to an unbelievable start and never took their foot off the gas in a convincing 11-2 victory to go 3-0-0.
Their next challenge was from the defending 2008 MidgetAAACanada.com Champions London Knights who are also leading the Alliance Hockey League, and it would prove to be their biggest challenge.
The storied Knights franchise were their to reclaim their position and we were in for a treat. Dallas started out strong with three straight goals and probably thought it was smooth sailing until the Knights scored twice late in the period to make them hold off on celebrating too soon.
Then the Ice Jets came back in the second with two quick goals early only to have the same thing happen when the Knights matched their effort from period one with two late goals.
That set the stage for the nail biting third period which was exciting, but even though both teams had their chances, Dallas held on to win 5-4.
In the quarterfinals, Dallas faced the Toronto Young Nationals. The Ice Jets scored first, but then Toronto evened it up, and then Dallas scored again to end the first period with a score of 2-1.
The second had no scoring, but the third period was all Ice Jets as they scored three unanswered goals to take the game 5-1.
Leading into the semifinals, luck would have it that they would meet their cross town rivals, the Texas Tornado. We all enjoyed a skilled, fast paced game showing many Canadian fans how great hockey has become in Texas.
Dallas started the scoring early in the game, only to have the lead taken away from them going into the dressing room as Texas scored a short handed goal followed by a go ahead goal making it 2-1 just before the period ended.
The Ice Jets answered back with two of their own to reclaim the lead at 3-2, but then the Tornado evened it up on the powerplay to make it 3-3 going into the third period.
Unfortunately for Texas, Dallas turned on the afterburners and scored four unanswered goals to make the final 7-3.
Both teams played phenomenally well and their were certainly some momentum changers that kept you wondering who was going to win.
With the semifinal win Dallas was set to play for Gold and Texas for Bronze.
London had made it back to centre stage by defeating Lansing in a repeat of their 2008 semifinal battle, so it was bound to be an exciting final.
Dallas opened the scoring at 16:56 when Scott Moyer drew first blood on an unassisted effort. Then Christian McCollum made it 2-0 from Trace Redmond and Scott Moyer at 9:02 on the powerplay.
It was short lived though because after a penalty by the Ice Jets, London cut the Dallas lead in half with a powerplay goal by Matt Fuller with assists going to Brendan Woods and Sam Gray.
Dallas answered just six seconds later when Scott Moyer scored his second on the contest at 3:00, to make it 3-1 Ice Jets.
The second period saw London score two quick ones and it was "game on" with the score tied at three going into the third.
It was anyone's game and the defending champs London Knights had gotten themselves back in the game. The goaltenders were making great saves, the chances were there but it was Dallas who struck at 11:54 to make it 4-3.
London had their chance though because Dallas took two penalties close to each other giving the Knights a five on three for close to a minute and a half including a completely open net that resulted in a shot that rang off the post.
As the last seconds ticked away Dallas was about to celebrate their storybook undefeated run to be crowned 2009 MidgetAAACanada.com Cup Gold Medal Champions.
Our congratulations also go out to the London Knights who defended their crown with pride as they took Silver. Last, but not least congratulations also go out to the Lansing Capitals who won the Bronze Medal for the second year in a row.
We look forward to seeing all three teams back next year to face off in the 2010 MidgetAAACanada.com Cup.
Good luck to all team who participated in the tournament as they hope to win the right to win their respective national championships. In Canada that means the Telus Cup, and in the U.S. it means USA Hockey Nationals.
Thank you for giving us all a week of spectacular hockey and memories.
Yours in hockey,
Rick Virag President/CEO MidgetAAACanada.com .
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