Champions Declared at 2012 Spud

The 2012 Spud AAA Hockey Tournament concluded late Sunday afternoon and the champions of the 5 divisions were declared. The host team Charlottetown Abbies claimed the Novice division with a 5-1 win over Western. In the Atom division Acadia used the momentum from an overtime 4-3 win against Summerside in the semi-finals to propel them over the Dartmouth Whalers 2-1 in the final. Dartmouth defeated Halifax 5-2 earlier in the day to earn a spot in the final game.

In the Peewee division the Summerside Capitals defeated Dieppe/Memramcook 7-0 and went on to the final and destroyed Western Valley 9-0. Summerside was probably the most dominate team in the tournament and they have not lost a game all year. Western Valley defeated Western Warriors 3-2 in overtime to gain the right to play Summerside.

Nova Scotia teams were the class of the Bantam division this year as 3 of 4 semifinalist were from the province. The other team was New Brunswick's KV Rangers and the squared off with the defending and tournament favourite Western Hurricanes. The Hurricanes came out on top 4-0. The other semi final saw Scotsburn Crushers from Pictou edge the Chebucto/TASA Bubba Ray Gulls 3-2. In the championship game Scotsburn used a hot goaltender and the motivation of seeing one of their teammates carted off the ice after a scary spill into the boards, to upset the top team in Triple OT 3-2.

In Midget AAA play the 2012 final was a rematch of the 2011 final as Prince Edward Islands Mid-Isle Matrix squared off with the host Charlottetown Abbies. The Matrix defeated another PEI team, Kings County 7-2 in one semi final and Charlottetown won 6-3 over East Hants in the other. Midisle got off to an early lead as Jordan Mayhew scored 12 seconds into the game, however all momentum was lost as Midisle got into penalty trouble and spent the majority of the first period killing them off. In the second Spencer McAllister made won a race for a loose puck with Abbies goaltender Zach Geldert to make the score 2-0. Charlottetown spent the rest of the period killing penalties and Midisle could not score to give them a 3 goal cushion. Early in the third period Josh Scott scored to get Charlottetown within a goal but Jordan Mayhew scored once again to restore the 2 goal lead. Midisle received another goal, this one by Campbell Gallant, to put the game out of reach. Spencer McAllister added an empty net goal to make the final 5-1.

Charlottetown's Tournament MVP was the Captain Nick Handrahan and Jordan Mayhew was tournament MVP for Midisle.

- Mike Lord