It was a weekend for the history books, as two Peewee teams from Minto won All-Ontario championships, one day apart.
The Minto Mad Dogs Peewee Rep team captured the Ontario Minor Hockey Association (OMHA) title for its division on March 23 in Delhi, besting the Rockets in four games to claim the championship. Minto won the final game by a 4-1 count.
The Mad Dog Reps made it to the final series by sweeping three game series with the Kawartha Coyotes in the semifinals and Blyth-Brussels in quarter-final action.
On March 24 the Minto Pee Wee AE squad captured its OMHA Championship defeating the BCH (Bayfield, Clinton, Hensall) Ice Dogs in game five of the series.
It was a back and forth series with game five tied at the end of regulation time and Minto scoring less than a minute into overtime. The Minto team defeated Georgian Shores three straight in its quarter-final round and Centre Hastings in four games in the semifinal round to allow them to proceed to the finals against BCH.
“These two teams have supported each other through the season and it was a sweet moment when both teams could celebrate this win together,” team officials state.
The twin wins provide the Minto Minor Hockey Association (MMHA) with its first OMHA championships since the amalgamation of Palmerston and Harriston minor hockey associations created MMHA in the early ’90s. The last local team to win an All-Ontario was the 1969-70 Harriston Juveniles. In 1963-64, a Harriston Peewee team was OMHA champion.
