It’s always a pleasure to watch little 5 and 6 year old boys and girls play hockey. It seems as if the puck is a magnet as you watch a crowd of ten little bodies crawling after the black disk, waving their tiny sticks back and forth as they flail with intense effort to actually touch the darn thing. Parents are laughing and shouting words of encouragement and genuinely having a great old time.

The Annual Valley East Minor Hockey Association’s Mickey Mouse/Tyke/Novice/Atom Tournament is always a pleasant change for hockey fans of all ages. Pure hockey, played for the love of the sport and the chance to hold one of the cherished little trophies is all that these kids dream of. The results are not as important as the experience, but let us share the results with you, and pay tribute to the winning teams from our community.

As you read the names of the winning teams, please accept my apology for any spelling errors. However, I will not accept the blame. You will have to speak to the team coach or manager who wrote the names on the scoresheet. 

In the Mickey Mouse Division, we had a tie in the final game, so, fittingly, both teams were declared champions. Valley East Lions and Valley East MAC played to a 2 to 2 draw. Members of the Lions included: Tyler Kirkey, Luc Seguin, Brady Wallace, Manon Emond, Coby Gardner, Brandon Bazinet, Jacob Smith, Haley Roberge, Justin Fleming, Cody Boileau and Cray Roberge. Bob Smith is the coach. The MAC included: Austin White, Thomas Cousins, Tyler St. Denis, Eve Boissoneault, Scott Villeneuve, Justin Vatour, Derek Bedard, Brady Grenon, Bayley Demore, Shawn Ferron and Jeffrey Munro. The team is coached by Kevin Villeneuve.

The Tyke 1 title game was a real squeaker with Capreol winning 4 to 3 over Valley Pro Players. The Capreol club included: Brandon Lachapelle, Riley Orr, Dorion Cornett, Derek Lauboritch, Anthony Madden, Nathan Martel, Alex Bottigori, Patrick Roy, Curtis Sawyer, Justin Konrad, Chris Langman, Jamie Gough, Zach Porter and Justin Byrnes. The team is coached by Louis Bottigori.

The Nickel Centre Rangers captured the Tyke 2 championship by virtue of a 10 to 0 win over Valley East Lions. Nickel Centre’s Taylor Couillard was a wrecking crew himself with no less than six goals and two assists in the contest.

Clearview Golf & Country Club edged out Kwikway 3 to 2 to take the top honours in the Novice 1 Division. Clearview players included: Andrew Desrochers, Jean Marc Guindon, Todd Bisaillon, Stephane Roy, Corey McCue, Adam Lyle, Kevin Barnes, Jean Luc Guidon, Jordan Camirand, Stephane Demore, Christian Gobeil and Jake Ireland. The club is coached by Moe Bisaillon.

The Novice 2 Championship game was won by the Valley East Lions with a 2 to 1 overtime victory over Valley East Allstate. The winning team included: Chad Penton, Shawn Dubois, Brandon Arcan, Robert Spencer, Nicholas Strong, Patrick Moison, Alain Dubuc, Devan Munch, Trent Sears, Cody Bolduc, Martin Pitre and Justin Gaudet. The head coach was Clem Spencer.

There were no local winners in the Atom Divisions. Sault Ste. Marie downed Moosonee 4 to 1 to take the Atom 1 title, while Copper Cliff defeated Walden 4 to 0 to capture the Atom 2 crown.