By Sam Laskaris /
The Toronto Bulldogs finally found a way to beat one of their chief rivals.
The spring hockey team, comprised of players born in 2003, was beaten in three tournament championship finals earlier this year by another Toronto-based squad called, Total Hockey.
The two squads also ended up squaring off in their divisional final at the prestigious Ronald McDonald Tournament, which concluded on June 6 in Toronto.
But this time, it was the Bulldogs who came out on top, emerging with a 3-0 victory.
“It was great to win,” said Bulldogs’ coach Claudio Russo. “And to shut out (Total Hockey) was a great accomplishment.”
Some roster shuffling led to the Bulldogs’ successes at the Ronald McDonald Tournament, a three-day event, which saw 224 AAA teams compete for top honours in 16 divisions.
Russo said his charges had some difficulties clearing the puck out of their own zone during their first three tournament finals against Total Hockey.
“We put two of our better forwards back on defence,” Russo said. “And they played the whole tournament on defence.”
The two individuals who were moved back to the blueline were Anthony Russo (Claudio’s son) and Quinn Tavares.
The move seemed to pay off handsomely. The Bulldogs allowed just six goals in their six tournament matches.
And what was even more impressive was the shutout against Total Hockey in the final.
“We shut out the best team,” Russo added of the Total Hockey side. “They were the best team in the Toronto area. They had never been shut out or even shut down before.”
Ben West, a goalie from Whitby, was credited with the shutout in the championship game.
Despite their name, the Bulldogs’ roster included just a couple of players from Toronto.
Meanwhile, six players from the Port Credit Hockey Association are on the team. The squad also includes two players from Oakville and one each from Barrie and Burlington.
The Bulldogs breezed through their four round-robin matches, collectively outscoring their opponents by a whopping 35-4 count. The club registered a pair of lopsided shutouts, 10-0 and 8-0. And it also had a 10-1 win and a 7-3 triumph.
The Bulldogs then earned a berth in the championship final by edging a Detroit-based squad called Team USA 3-2 in their semi-final contest.
“It was a team effort,” Russo said of his charges’ performances throughout the event. “We didn’t have like one player that was scoring all the goals. All of the players scored goals in the tournament.”
Meanwhile, another Toronto Bulldogs’ squad also won its division at the tournament. The Bulldogs’ 2000 Brick side edged a team dubbed Pro Hockey, 3-2 in its final.
The Ronald McDonald Tournament was organized by the CCHA (Champion’s Choice Hockey Academy) Sports Entertainment Group. The tourney was held at six facilities in Toronto and surrounding areas.
Though all of the entrants were AAA clubs, for the first time in tournament history, organizers divided up a half dozen age groups that had a large number of entries.
So besides the AAA category in those age groupings, in each one of them there was also a presumably higher calibre elite division.
Elite divisions were staged for those players born in the 1996, ‘97, ‘98, ‘99, 2000 and
2001 groupings. |