Sports

Orangeville District Secondary School Bears hockey team competes at provincial level

March 30, 2023   ·   0 Comments

By Brian Lockhart

The Orangeville District Secondary School Bears boy’s hockey team had a good showing at the Ontario Federation of School Athletic Associations (OFSAA) provincial competition held in Windsor on Mar. 21 to 23.

The Bears were entered into the provincial competition as the Central Western Ontario Secondary Schools Association (CWOSSA) champions.

They won CWOSSA with an outstanding effort in Fergus Mar. 7 after winning the District championship the previous week.

There were 16 championship teams entered in the OFSAA competition representing Athletic Associations from around the province.

Bears coach, Justin Davis, said he thought they were at a disadvantage when the ODSS team was seeded 14th, which put them up against the number one seed from Brother Andre in the first game. However, they won over the number seven seed in the second game of the first day of competition.

“There was a mix-up in the scheduling and they put us in the quarter-final against the number 2 seed – Brooklin from Whitby,” Justin said. “We had the only game on Olympic (size) ice in the quarter-final and they were just too fast for us as we hadn’t played on a surface that big all year. They (Brooklin) were a great team with four kids drafted to the OHL.”

In the first day of competition, the Bears were scheduled to play two games.

In the morning, they were up against Brother Andre from Markham. The Bears took a 6-3 loss in that game.

They were back on the ice in the afternoon to face Holy Cross. The Bears made up for the morning loss with a 6-4 win to end the first day of competition.

In the second day of hockey, the Bears were on the ice early with an 8:15 face-off to meet the team from Bishop Ryan. They won that game 5-1.

At the end of the day, eight teams moved forward to compete in the quarter-final round.

The Bears took a 6-2 loss to the squad from Brooklin to eliminate them from the competition.

The four remaining teams played it out in a semi-final round, with the two losing teams meeting up to play and determine who slots in with the Bronze.

In the final game for the gold, Brooklin was up against Brother Andre.

The team from Brother Andre came out on top with a 6-2 win to claim the 2023 OFSAA boys’ AAA championship title.

“We obviously went to the tournament with the hopes of winning but it was one of the best seasons we’ve had at ODSS,” Justin said. “To go from a 1-4 start to being in the top eight teams in the province for high school hockey, was a testament to how hard these kids worked and came together as a team. We were made up of AE, A, and AA kids from Orangeville and represented our community with class and the kids should be very proud.”

The Bears had a stellar season this year. After an initial slump in the early going, they rebounded with a solid effort at the district level to win two championship titles.

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