The Norfolk Hericanes U15B girls defeated Hamilton 5-1 Sunday in Simcoe, qualifying for the OWHA Provincial Championship tournament April 11-13.
By Chris Abbott
Editor
A 5-1 win Sunday has lifted the Norfolk HERicanes U15B girls into the OWHA provincial hockey tournament.
“That punches our ticket to the provincials,” said Norfolk U15B girls hockey coach Bernie Gillis after a convincing OWHA South Division playdown victory against the visiting Hamilton Hawks, noting the Hericanes needed to win their last two round-robin playdown games to qualify.
The Hericanes defeated Niagara Falls 5-1 Saturday in Port Dover. After trailing 1-0 early, Norfolk turned it around and started playing ‘Hericanes hockey’ in the second and third periods, said Gillis, pressuring the puck, and playing a little more physical.
“It allowed them to get back into their game mode and we just over-pressured (Niagara Falls) for the last two periods.”
The Hericanes’ offence was on fire to start the first period Sunday afternoon at Talbot Gardens, scoring four goals in the first five minutes en route to a 5-1 win over Hamilton.
“They have been playing hard all year,” said Gillis, praising the U15 Hericanes. “We made promises at the beginning of the season that we would practice the way we play, which has really helped. When they get into game mode, they’ve been used to it all year long because they practice that way. They do everything 100 per cent and it allows them to play a full 32 minutes of hockey, as opposed to 10-15 minutes here and there.”
During pre-season dryland training and team bonding, the team had talked about their goals for the 2024-25 season. The majority of them wanted to play a physical game of hockey, win more games than they did in 2023-24, and qualify for the provincials.
“So this was their goal all year long,” said Gillis, “to make it to this level.”
The OWHA provincial tournament, for all levels, is April 11-13.
“It’s based pretty much through all the GTA, so some of our (Hericanes) teams will be playing in Markham, Mississauga, Brampton… it’s all over the place.”
Also qualifying in their respective divisions were the Hericanes’ U18BB, U15B and Senior teams.
“We’ve told the girls from Day 1 that they are one of the best teams in Ontario. They just have to have that mindset. Expectations for provincials? In all honesty, if they compete the way they have… win, lose or draw, I’m a happy coach.”
Gillis noted the U15B team is young – only six of their 17 players are second year.
Making it to provincials was the expectation – anything beyond this point, at the tournament, is exceeding that.
“Whatever they do from here on out is just icing on the cake.”
The Hericanes U15B girls reached the finals of the 43rd Annual Walter Gretzky Tournament, hosted by the Brantford Girls Hockey Association Feb. 20-23, reaching their division finals against Chatham-Kent.
“Every tournament we’ve been in, we’ve done really well – finals, semifinals – so we’ve seen some of the better teams out there, and we hold our own against them.”
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