Over the March break the Bracebridge Bears Greavette bantam hockey team travelled to Lake Placid, New York, to play in the annual American Cup. The Bears played on both the 1932 and 1980 Olympic ice surfaces and the scene of the 1980 “Miracle on Ice”. This time no miracles were needed as the bantams took care of business, beating teams from Peterborough, Huntsville and Fort Erie to win the gold medal.

Sunday night’s game pitted the Bears against the Peterborough Nationals. The Nationals scored first and led at the end of the first period.

In the second, Adam Ager found the back of the net after receiving a pass from Ryan Quinton. Ager followed that up with his second from passes by Adam Schandlen and Annie Armstrong.

Leading 2-1 going into the third, the Bears decided to take it easy, letting Peterborough back into the game and giving up back-to-back goals. Down by one with about a minute and a half left, Trent Blanchard found his scoring touch and tied the game. Assists went to Armstrong and Logan Hammond. The game finished tied at three. Ager was named the player of the game.

Monday saw two games. The morning match had Bracebridge against their archrivals, the Huntsville Otters. This was by far the best game of the tournament with end-to-end action, hard hitting and great goaltending. After a scoreless first period, the Bears drew first blood in the second. Blanchard from Brandon Cross and a solo effort from Jake Clark put Bracebridge ahead by two.

Goalie Curtis Lauzon did the rest, shutting the door and keeping numerous Otters’ shots out of the net.

With 16 seconds left to play, Huntsville finally managed to sneak one past the big goaltender. The game ended with the Bears winning 2-1. Cross picked up the player of the game award.

In the afternoon, the last game of the round robin matched Bracebridge against the Fort Erie Meteors. The Bears were all over the Meteors, winning 7-1. Goal scorers were Hammond with the hat trick, Ager with two, and Clark and Blanchard with singles. Assists went to Blanchard with four, Nolan Blum with two, Schandlen, Hammond and Quinton each with one. Blanchard picked up the player of the game for his five-point effort.

On Tuesday afternoon the Bears met the Peterborough Nationals in the championship match. Not wanting to repeat their first game mistakes, the Bears hit the ice with the intention of scoring early and often. Within 29 seconds of the opening faceoff, Bracebridge was up by two. Six seconds into the match Blanchard slammed the puck past a startled goalie after a pass from Hammond. Hammond followed that up with a goal of his own, with Blanchard assisting. Before the end of the first, Clark scored with Ryan Taylor and Ager getting helpers.

In the second, Blanchard scored unassisted. Schandlen from Hammond made it 5-0. In the third period the Bears played stifling defence to protect their lead and the gold medal. Hammond picked up the player of the game award. Lauzon shut out the Nationals with many highlight reel quality saves and was awarded the Tournament MVP.

The Bears returned home with the gold medal, a fitting end to their hockey season.  a