Monctonian Won by the Halifax Titans and Calgary Bruins

The 31st Annual Monctonian AAA Challenge has wrapped up and the the two champions of the 50 team event have been decided. The Halifax Titans defeated the Fredricton Canadiens to claim the Major Division and the Calgary Bruins claimed top spot over the Mid-Isle Matrix in the Minor Division.

Halifax played the Valley Wildcats in the semi finals Sunday morning and were victorious 5-2 on the strength of John Mullally's 4 points. Fredricton meanwhile played their second straight overtime game as the St. Johns Privateers gave them all they could handle. Alex Lewicki scored the overtime winner in a 3-2 game. In the championship game the Titans brought the first ever Monctonian title to the Halifax region with the 3-2 win. Fredricton opened the scoring early in the second period, only to have Halifax answer with 2 goals. Noah Zilbert scored early in the third but John Mullally answerd with the final and game winning goal of the contest. Mason MacDonald was recognized as top goaltender and Alex Hazlehurst was named MVP of the championship game both from Halifax. Fredrictons Noah Zilbert was most sportsmanlike.

In the Minor Division the Calgary Bruins used 2 powerplay goals early in the third period to build a 4-2 lead on defending champion Mid-Isle Matrix. Final score was 4-3. Jordan Mayhew lead all scorers with 2 goals and 1 assist including a penalty shot in the first period. Chase Rainville, top goaltender, and Zack Finlay, MVP recieved the individual awards for Calgary.

- Mike Lord

Monctonian Day 3 Wrap Up

Major Midget Semi Finals and Minor Midget Finals are set for Sunday. In the Major Midget Division The St. John's Privateers will meet the Fredricton Canadiens and the Valley Wildcats face the Halifax Titans. In Minor Midget the Calgary Bruins try to do what noone in Atlantic Canada has been able to do this season, and that is beat the Mid-Isle Matrix.

 

The Privateers and Canadiens both used 2-1 victories to reach the semis. Marcus Cuomo scored the game winner for St. John's as they beat the Cole Harbour Wolfpack. Fredricton needed overtime and Zach Whitlock was the hero as the Canadies upended Dartmouth Talor Flooring. Ryan MacEachern scored a goal and set up the winner as Halifax defeated Cape Breton 3-2. Valley Wildcats road to the semi final went through Pictou County as Nick Blanchard was in on all 3 goals, scoring 2. Pictou could only muster a lone tally. Semi final action is at 9 am and the Final is at 3 pm.

 

In the Minor Midget Division the defending champs, Mid-Isle Matrix built a 5-0 lead and cruised to a 5-2 victory over the very tired Bedford Blues. Jordan Mayhew led the way with a goal and 2 assist and Jonathan Richards had 2 goals. Bedford refused to quit and put in a great effort but 12 periods of hockey in 1 day proved to be too much. In the other semi final match up the Calgary Bruins scored twice in the final period including an empty netter as they handed the Saint John Phantoms only their second loss of the year 4-2. Patrick Lyster scored the winner.

 

Calgary and Mid-Isle will meet at 11:30 am to decide a champion.

 

- Mike Lord

Monctonian Playoff Round Underway

Playoffs are underway at the 31st Annual Monctonian Midget AAA Challenge. In the Major Division the 1/4 finals are set as #1 seed Fredricton Canadians play Dartmouth Talor Flooring at 8:30 pm at the Red Ball Internet Center. Dartmouth  defeated South Shore Mustangs 5-0 in the first Wildcard game. The Cape Breton West Islanders clawed out a 2-1 overtime victory over the Cornwall Thunder in  the second wild card game to earn a date with the 2 seed Halifax Titans. That game is also at 8:30 pm.

 

The other 2 quarter final games played at 6:30pm will feature 3rd overall Cole Harbour Wolfpack against the 6th place St. John's Privateers. The 4th seed Valley Wildcats from Nova Scotia meet 5th place Pictou County Weeks.

  

The final four is set for the Minor Division. The early playoff rounds featured plenty of tight contests including several overtime games. The story of the tournament is shaping up to be the Bedford Blues who played in the first wild card game this morning and squeaked out a 2-1 overtime win against the North West Bulls. That win earned them a quarterfinal game with 1st seed Truro Bearcats. Again Bedford used overtime heroics to grab a 3-2 win in the second extra frame. Their efforts earned them a semifinal berth against defending champion Mid-Isle Matrix from Prince Edward Island. The Matrix are using defence to win games as the have a team goals against average of 0.250 after a 5-0 win over the Sherwood Falcons.

 

The other Semifinal sees the Calgary Bruins match up against the Saint John Phantoms. Calgary used a victory over the tired Charlottetown Abbies, final score was 3-2. Charlottetown defeated PEI rivals Western Regals 2-1 in overtime. Saint John won their quarter final game 3-2 over the Calgary Stamps.

 

The Major Midget semi's go Sunday morning at 9am and the championship game is at 3pm. The Minor Midget Division final is slated for 11:30 am.

 

- Mike Lord

Monctonian Day 2 Wrap Up

Day 2 is all over for the Minor Division of the Monctonian AAA Challenge. Playoff match ups are set and begin at 9am tomorrow morning. The Truro Bearcats grabbed the top seed on the strength of their goal scorers as they tallied 23 times in their 3 wins and only allowed 1 goal against. The Calgary Minor Bruins edged the defending champions by 1 goal as they finished 3-0 with a goals for - goals against differential of +15. Truro and Calgary will await the winners of the 2 wildcard games early tomorrow morning. In the first wild card game the 1-0-2 Charlottetown Abbies will play the Western Regals who also have a 1-0-2 record. Both teams are from Prince Edward Island. In the other wild card game The Bedford Blues match up against the North West Bulls. 

 

Truro will play the winner of the Bedford North West game and Calgary will play the winner between Charlottetown. The other quarter final matchups see another all PEI match up with Mid-Isle Matrix and Sherwood Falcons locking horns. The Calgary Stamps and Saint John Phantoms will meet in the last quarterfinal game of the day. All 4 games are at 2:15 and the semifinals are at 8:30pm. Championship will be contested Sunday morning at 11:30.

 

The major midget teams had the evening off for the most part. 40 players played in the QMJHL prospects game. Team Blue defeated Team Orange 7-3. Andrew Mergl of the Saint John Vitos was stellar in goal for Team orange during the second half of the game. Charlottetowns Kameron Kielly scored twice for Blue and added a helper. After the game the teams had a shootout for the scouts. Team blue was victorious as well 10-7.

  

Major Midget Round Robin wraps up at 2 pm. Wild card games begin at 4:30.

Monctonian Report Day #1 - Cornwall Superior Thunder Seeded # 1

The first day of play is in the books at the 31st Monctonian AAA Challenge and the 4 ice surfaces at the Red Ball Internet Center were kept busy as 34 games were played. The 2 defending champions had very different days. The Charlottetown Islanders lost their only game to the defending Atlantic Canada Champions by a score of 5-1. As for the Mid-Isle Matrix in the Minor Division they were the victors in both of their games by scores of 4-0 and 5-1 over North West Bulls and Cumberland Ramblers respectively.

The host teams had poor results today as well. The Moncton Major Midget Flyers lost their first game of the season to the Missisaugua Senators 3-2 and the Minor Midget Flyers lost both of their contests, one to the Bedford Blues 6-0 and the other to the Calgary Minor Stamps 3-2.

All Major Division teams played 1 game today and the Cornwall Superior Thunder currently hold the #1 seed with a goals for - goals against differential of +5. The Fredricton Canadiens and the Halifax Titans are tied for 2nd with +4 differentials. In all 11 games were played and 11 more are on tap for tomorrow. The round robin wraps up Saturday at 2pm. 10 players are tied for the scoring lead with 3 points each. Day 2 is moving day as some teams face must win games to keep their hopes of claiming 1 of 10 playoff spots.

In the Minor Division 23 games were played as some teams played 2 games and others just 1. Mid-Isle, Bedford Blues, Saint John Phantoms and the Cape Breton West Eagles are in the driver seat of their respective divisions with 2 wins - 4 points each. Where this division gets interesting is in Group C as the Kenn Valley Spartans and the Charlottetown Abbies tied each other at 4 and both sit atop their division with 3 points. Currently Charlottetown has a 1 goal advantage in the tie breaker. In Group A the Calgary Stamps and Bedford Blues are undefeated. Calgary has 2 games remaining and Bedford just 1 against the Stamps. Noah Popwell leads all scorers with 6 points in 2 games. Zack Finlay from the Calgary Minor Bruins had a 5 point effort in their lone game, a 6-1 victory over Sydney Steelers. The round robin finishes up tomorrow night and the 7 division winners plus the 3 next best teams advance to the playoff round which starts Saturday Morning.

Stay tuned for further updates tomorrow.

- Mike Lord

Monctonian Tournament Set to Begin

Starting Thursday November 17th the 31st annual Monctonian AAA challenge begins with the first games starting at 8:45am. The site is the Red Ball Internet Centre in Moncton New Brunswick. The Monctonian is a tournament solely for Midget AAA (15-17 years old) teams, and is the largest and most heavily scouted tournament of its kind in all of Canada.

 

The tournament consists of 2 categories Major Midget and Minor Midget. This year there are 50 teams participating which is an all time high. The Major division has 22 teams, 8 from Nova Scotia, 5 from New Brunswick, 3 from Newfoundland, 3 from Alberta, 2 from Prince Edward Island (PEI) and 1 from Ontario. The Minor Division boasts 28 teams. Nova Scotia is represented by 12 teams, New Brunswick 7, PEI 6, Alberta 2 and Newfoundland 1.

 

Last year there were 154 scouts at the tournament. They represented teams from Major Junior, Junior A, Canadian Universities and US Colleges.

 

Some teams to watch this year are the two defending champions, both from PEI. The Charlottetown Islanders (Major) and the Mid-Isle Matrix (Minor) are both considered contenders. The 3 Calgary, Alberta teams and the lone team from Ontario have to be considered as threats in the Major division. The Host team Moncton Flyers are having a stellar season in the NB-PEI Major Midget League and are the early favorites. In the Minor Division, the Mid-Isle Matrix and the Kenn Valley Spartans (NB) are both coming in with identical 11-0 win-loss records in their respective leagues. The 2 teams from Calgary should also be considered as legitimate contenders. 

 

Stay tuned fro daily updates beginning tomorrow.

 

- Mike Lord