Apr 12, 2019 | Melissa Farrell | 1171 views
OMHA CHAMPIONS
After two hard fought series vs Goderich and South Huron the Walkerton Joy Source for Sports Bantams took on Campbellford for the OMHA Bantam CC Championships.
Game 1 saw Walkerton jump out to a 3-0 lead in the first period with goals by Connor Heaney, Ethan Smith and Gil Schumacher with assists going to Ryan Fleischauer, Caleb Farrell and Connor Heaney. After Campbellford made it 3-1 Connor restored Walkerton’s 3 goal lead with the assist going to Turner McKenzie. Campbellford then got 2 quick power play goals to tighten the score up to 4-3. Goalie Lucas Rowe made some nice saves to hold the lead before Connor Heaney scored assisted by Ryan Fleischauer and Turner McKenzie to put the Capitals up 5-3 which would end up being the final score. Game 2 was in Walkerton were a huge crowd turned out to watch an exciting game. Campbellford came out strong and took the lead late in the 1st period but Walkerton scored shortly after to tie the game on an unassisted goal by Caleb Farrell. Walkerton took the lead in the 2nd period on a pretty passing play set up by Ryan Fleischauer and Gil Schumacher to send Connor Heaney in alone for the goal. Campbellford tied it back up before Caleb Farrell responded with another unassisted goal to put Walkerton back in the lead for the 3rd period where it was tight checking and no goals scored until Turner Mackenzie scored an empty net goal with 32 seconds left for a final score of 4-2 for Walkerton. Game 3 was played on Saturday in Campbellford where an extra fan bus came down to cheer on the Walkerton Bantams. Campbellford came out strong and applied pressure early on with Lucas Rowe standing tall in goal to keep the game scoreless until Turner McKenzie hit Connor Heaney with a breakaway pass out of the penalty box where he scored on the rebound. Korson Schmidt put Walkerton up 2-0 on a goal assisted by Turner and Connor. Campbellford got one back to end the 1st period at 2-1 Walkerton. Campbellford then tied things up at 2 early in the 2nd period before Connor Heaney put Walkerton up 3 minutes later on a goal assisted by Korson Schmidt. Gil Schumacher assisted by Ryan Fleischauer put the Walkerton Capitals up 4-2 heading into the 3rd period. Lucas Rowe continued to play strong holding Walkerton’s lead until Caleb Farrell scored into the empty net for a 5-2 series clinching victory. Walkerton coaches Barry Heaney, Rob McKenzie, Greg Schmidt and Dan Rourke were impressed with the strong play of their defence including: Turner McKenzie, Korson Schmidt, Jake Zettler, Andrew Al and Dylan Cartwright. They also got great team work from forwards Connor Heaney, Ryan Fleischauer, Gil Schumacher, Ethan Smith, Caleb Farrell, Justin Pope, Keaton Rourke, Parker Elphick, Cole Saunders and Austin Cormack. Thanks to Ryan Hinsperger for providing backup goaltending support. We would like to thank manager Melissa Farrell for a great job organizing everything for the team this year. The team would also like to thank the tremendous fan support from the town at their home games and from the fan bus in the final game, the parent volunteers and Walkerton Minor Hockey Board who helped organize events at the OMHA final game in Walkerton, The Walkerton Hawks for running the Hawks Nest and our sponsor Joy Source for Sports.