Friday, May 18, 2018

Silver Medal for the Mavericks at 14U Eastern National Championships


Sunday marked the conclusion of the 14 and under Eastern National Championships at Claude-Robillard in Montreal. 
After three days of competition, it was the CAMO boys that won the Gold while the Mavericks came in second. 
The title was CAMO's first ever at the 14U boys level. 

CAMO was the top seed in Pool A and would start off their round robin against provincial foe Dollard. 
CAMO started the game off by scoring six straight goals in the first quarter alone. 
They would never look back as they would win the game 19-7. Adrien Bilodeau and Anis Amarouche had themselves 
a game as they combined for 15 of CAMO’s 19 goals. 
In the second game of the round robin, CAMO would have to face the Ottawa Titans. The Titans would keep
the score close with Tomas Andrijasevic scoring two goals in the first half to keep the Titans tied with CAMO entering 
the third quarter. In the third, Anas Gadiri and Anis Amarouche would both score two goals each to put the game out
of reach as CAMO would win 9-7. On Saturday, the final game of the round robin for CAMO had them facing the Mavericks Red.
The offense would take off again, and the defense allowed only two goals as they would go on to win the game 15-2 
and finish the round-robin with a perfect 3-0-0.
Pool B was headlined by three very strong teams. Mavericks Black were looking to make it back to the gold medal game 
for the fourth straight year and were the top seed in the pool. Montreal Machine, the 2017 defending champions were 
the number two seed, and Shadow, the 2017 bronze medalists were the third seed, meaning that all three podium 
finishers from 2017 were in the same pool. It was sure to be a great battle between the three teams for the two available 
semi-final spots. Mavericks Black vs Shadow was a game of runs. Mavericks started out with the first three goals of the game,
only to watch Shadow score five of the next six to take the lead at the half. Mavericks would then retake the lead and put the 
game away by scoring seven unanswered goals in the 3rd and 4th quarters, recording a 12-5 victory. 
Mavericks vs Machine was a tight defensive contest. Neither team ever led by more than one goal, and after a tying Machine goal 
with five and a half minutes to go in the 3rd quarter, neither team can find a goal the rest of the way, the game ending deadlocked 
at four all. The tie for Mavericks, coupled with their wins over Shadow and the Toronto Golden Jets, meant Mavericks were qualified 
through to the semi-final. Machine vs Shadow would decide the remaining spot. Shadow looked poised to take the victory, 
leading 7-4 entering the 4th quarter. Machine would then go on a four-goal run to take the lead 8-7. Shadow would then tie the 
game with 23 seconds left, only to see Machine to retake the lead just three seconds later. The frantic last 30 seconds didn’t stop 
there though, as Shadow scored with 9 seconds left to tie the game and managed to steal and fire a last 2nd heave at the Machine net, 
that just went high. The tie was good enough for Machine to advance to the semis, where they would face CAMO.
In the semi-final game, CAMO would have to face the defending champions, Montreal Machine. CAMO started out strong as they 
would hold a 4-1 lead entering the third quarter. The Machine would fight back as Évrard Pérès would score three goals in the third to 
bring them within one. In the fourth, the Machine would tie the game with Luc Bojorquez’s second power-play goal of the game. 
However, CAMO would respond a few moments later as Anis Amarouche would score his fourth goal of the game to give them 
the lead 7-6. The score would not change as CAMO advanced to the gold medal game.
The other semi-final pitted Mavericks Black against the Ottawa Titans, runners up in Pool A. Mavericks got on a roll early in the game, 
jumping to leads of 4-0 after one, 6-1 after two, and 8-2 after three. Titans were not able to put their stamp on the game at any point, 
and Mavericks advanced to the final with a 10-4 victory.
In the bronze medal game, Montreal Machine faced off against the Ottawa Titans. Both teams were looking to bounce back from their 
semi-final losses the previous day. The Machine’s goaltender Samuel Chalifoux-Walker had himself a game as he only allowed 
one goal in the whole match. Offensively the Machine were led by Vladyslav Shabalin and Luc Bojorquez who combined to score 
all of the team’s goals. Montreal Machine would take the game 6-1 and the bronze medal.
In the gold medal game, Mavericks Black were looking to take their third gold medal in four years while CAMO were looking for their first 
medal in the 14U Eastern National Championships. After two quarters, the game was tied 3-3 as both defenses were playing strong. 
Whatever was said in the halftime break must have really spurred CAMO on though, as after the restart for quarter three, CAMO’s offence exploded, 
scoring eight unanswered goals. Anas Gadiri and Anis Amarouche led the way again as they combined for eight goals in the game. 
The final score was 11-3 for CAMO, winners of their first-ever 14U Eastern National Championship.

Final Rankings 
14U Boys
1.     CAMO
2.     Mavericks
3.     Montréal Machine
4.     Ottawa Titans
5.     Shadow
6.     Dollard
7.     Toronto Golden Jets
8.     Mavericks Red
Most Valuable Defensive Player: Mahmoud Rouby, Mavericks
Most Valuable Goalie: Clément Bilodeau, CAMO
Most Valuable Coach: Maxime Crevier, CAMO
Most Valuable Player : Anis Amarouche, CAMO

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