Road to the OHL Cup: OMHA tickets booked

 

By Raine Hernandez/OHL

It was an incredible weekend at the Sixteen Mile Sports Complex in Oakville as the OMHA Championships took place including the U16 division as eight teams competed for the coveted #RedHats. The top four teams would also punch their ticket to the 2022 OHL Cup powered by Under Armour.

On Championship Sunday, it was the York-Simcoe Express who stood alone as the U16 Champions of the OMHA after two gutsy performances. YSE bested the Hamilton Jr. Bulldogs in a morning semi-final matchup before defeating the Niagara North Stars on a Nicolas Ferrante overtime winner to claim OMHA supremacy.

With YSE achieving their season-long goal of donning the red hats, we turn out attention to examining the OMHA’s top four finishers as they prepare for action on Wednesday in Toronto:

 

York-Simcoe Express

Coming into OMHA Championship weekend as a dark horse to win the entire event, the York-Simcoe Express stepped up and took advantage of their opportunity and now enter Scotiabank Pond as one of the hottest teams in the province.

The Express are a well-rounded team led by captain Jared McNeil and a core offensive group with the likes of Daniel Vasic, Michael Denney, and Adam Matar. Defensively, the Express are backed by the duo of Carson Littlejohn and Tristian Williams, and finally, the goaltending of Parker Barnard (who was phenomenal in the OMHA Championship game) is certainly regarded as the backbone of this YSE squad.

 

Niagara North Stars

Although the North Stars did not win the OMHA title, the squad still solidified themselves as one of the premiere teams in the circuit, overcoming a ton of adversity along the way. In the semi-finals, Niagara defeated the Quinte Red Devils in double overtime as Matthew Coates scored on the breakaway to send NNS to the finals.

The North Stars will enter the OHL Cup with a dangerous forward group that features Luca Testa, Parker Forlin, Andrew Vermeulen, and Ben Theron in front of an effective shutdown pairing in Luke Tuin and Lucas Hihn with Finn Wilson between the pipes.

 

Hamilton Jr. Bulldogs

Like the Express, the Hamilton Jr. Bulldogs came into Oakville as a team that was rather slept on, and as the weekend progressed, Hamilton continued to impress. The Bulldogs defeated the Markham Waxers, Burlington Eagles, and then later in their final game following the semis, avenging their round robin defeat against the Quinte Red Devils.

Clark Dunford, Jack Gallo, and Brayden Russell led the charge offensively for the Bulldogs during their playoff run, each with nine goals during the SCTA playdowns, ultimately continuing their strong play this past weekend as well. Look for them in addition to goaltender Gabriel Longo to make some noise.

 

Quinte Red Devils

In what was a coin-flip type-game in their morning semi-final matchup, the Quinte Red Devils were edged in double overtime by the Niagara North Stars. Despite the loss, the Red Devils had a dominant round robin, outscoring their opponents 20-4 in three games.

Heading into the OHL Cup, the Devils have arguably the best defensive corps in the event led by the pairing of Braedyn Rogers and Ben Danford, while offensively the Red Devils have three extremely effective lines that can easily fill the scoresheet. Players such as Beckett Ewart, Liam Philip, Nolan Donnelly and Ethan Toms will be crucial to their success.

 

The 2022 OHL Cup powered by Under Armour gets underway on Wednesday, March 30 at the Scotiabank Pond in Toronto.