Three host teams take title in Nobleking tournament

There was a struggle for the puck between novice Knights and their Beeton foes in the tournament final match, but the Knights took the game 7-4.

There was plenty of exciting hockey available last week as the NobleKing Minor Hockey Association hosted its annual rep tournament.

Teams from as far away as Sudbury and Cornwall were on hand to compete in the eight divisional contests. In the end, the host squads prevailed in three of the divisions, made it to the finals in a fourth and were semi-finalists in two more.

The novice reps, sponsored by The CIP Group, struggled a bit in the preliminary matches, but they really stepped up when it counted to take the title.

They opened with a solid win against their foes from Fort Erie, but were nipped in their second outing 6-4 by Aurora. The side recovered with a 6-0 win over East Gwillimbury to earn a spot in the semis.

The Knights drew Cooksville as their opponents in that match and handed their foes their first loss in the tournament, topping them 5-2.

The hosts were in command for most of the championship game, although their Beeton opponents were able to mount a bit of a third-period comeback. The final score was 7-4 for the victorious Knights.

The bantam Knights were applying the pressure on their Humber Valley opponents early in the tournament, winning this match 4-2. The home side was frustrated in the semi finals.

The ranks in the atom division were a little thin, so a Nobleking Select team was entered, but failed to win any games. The atom reps, sponsored by Melody Homes and Deltaplast Machinery Ltd., fell 3-1 to the squad from Innisfil in their first outing, but were able to beat the select teams and edge Aurora 2-1. The Knights, Innisfil and Aurora each posted 2-1 records, so a formula involving total goals for and against was employed to determine NobleKing and Aurora were the finalists. The Knights won 4-1.

There were 10 teams in the minor midget competition, and the NobleKing outfit was able to prevail in the end, although they needed some last-second heroics in the semi-finals.

They started out with a 3- 1 victory over the West London squad, then doubled Cornwall 4-2. They blanked the team from Hamilton 2-0 to nail down a berth in the semi-finals, but found themselves in a tight fight in that match against Kingston. They were tied 2-2, but the Knights put the winner home a split second before the final buzzer sounded, advancing them to the championship match.

The novice Knights were champions of their tournament last weekend.

That game was against Fergus, and the home side prevailed 5-2 to take all the marbles.

The minor peewee Knights also had a successful weekend, making it to the finals in their division. But that's where the fun ended, and they found themselves up against a tough crowd from Fort Erie, and the visitors came out on top of the 5-1 final.

The very first game of the tournament turned out to be a preview of the final, and Fort Erie won that one 3-1.

The Knights second outing came later that day, and things went just a little bit better for them, as they battled the group from Port Credit to a 2-2 draw.

The local side found the winning groove Saturday, downing their Scarborough foes 9-1, then earned a place in the title match with a 1-0 win over Duffield.

The atom Knights had no trouble taking their tournament title, prevailing 4-1 over Aurora in the championship match.

The minor atom Knights were taking charge of things in the preliminary matches, but it was in the semi-finals that things fell apart on them. A 1-0 loss to Scarborough meant that was as far as they were going to get in the tournament.

In the early games, they bested Duffield 3-1, Applewood 1-0 and Meadowvale 3-1.

The skaters from Scarborough ended up facing Innisfil in the finals, and Scarborough was victorious 4-2.

The bantam Knights came close to a berth in the finals, but a thrilling, overtime 3-2 loss to Bracebridge frustrated their hopes.

The local folks opened things up in fine form with a 4-2 win over Humber Valley, then blanked Toronto 4-0. They followed that with a preliminary match against Bracebridge, which the Knights won 2-1.

It was Bracebridge and Humber Valley battling it out for the title, and Bracebridge won it 4-2.

The peewee Knights got their tournament off to a fine start with a 7-1 win over Scarborough, and they followed that up with a 3-2 edging of the club from Westhill. But that's where their luck ran out. The second day of the tournament saw them drop a 5-3 decision to the Sudbury crew, then Duffield dropped them 5-2.

It was Sudbury and Duffield in the final, with Duffield winning 2-1.

It was not a pleasant weekend for the minor bantam Knights. They were having a rough time right from the start, dropping their first game 3-0 to Woodstock, but they recovered to top the Humberview team 4-1. But that was the end of the success, because they lost their next game 2-1 to Brampton, and that finished their tournament participation. Brampton prevailed in the championship game with a 3-2 win over Woodstock.