Coach Luke Beck and Asst. Coach Pat Choules savoring their team's victory
By ToDD HAMBLETON, todd.hambleton@sunmedia.ca
Updated 2 days ago
CORNWALL — It’s an historic first, for the Ontario Hockey Academy.
Its boys under-17 team, playing in the Ontario East Minor Hockey League, are ODMHA branch champions in the major midget AAA division. The team, coached by Luke Beck, was a perfect 8-0 in two playoff rounds, sweeping the Ottawa Senators in the first round, and then the Outaouais Intrepide in the final.
“We have a pretty good group of kids,’’ Beck said. “We had a lot of guys who really contributed . . . it makes it a lot more enjoyable that way.’’
The four-year-old OHA, in Cornwall’s west end, has had plenty of success in the past, including when a parade of Mavericks were drafted — 14 in all — into the Central Canada Hockey League two years ago.
On the girls side that year, all eight graduating players from the under-19 intermediate team moved on to the NCAA Division l or lll ranks.
There’s been team success in the ODMHA, but until this season, the Ontario Hockey Academy, because it’s a prep school, wasn’t allowed to compete in the playoffs.
Included for the first time, the Mavericks peaked at the right time.
They were undefeated in their last 12 regular-season games, and then came the post-season sweep. (The Mavericks were first in a nine-team division during the season, going 24-3-5, finishing four points ahead of the Ottawa Jr. 67’s.)
“We felt we were playing our best hockey toward the end of the year,’’ said Beck, a native of Charlottetown, P.E.I., who attended college and skated for the Bears at SUNY Potsdam, just southwest of Cornwall.
Beck was an assistant coach with Yarmouth (Nova Scotia) of the Maritime Junior Hockey League, before coming to the OHA for the 2010-2011 season.
His assistant coach, Pat Choules, is in his first season at the OHA, a recent SUNY Potsdam graduate who’s from Montreal’s West Island.
It’s been a memorable season for the two, and they’re planning on plenty more success in the future. “Things are going well, the program is moving forward very well,’’ Beck said.
But the Mavericks aren’t moving forward to the major midget AAA provincials, because it’s an academy team. (There are provincials coming up in Sault Ste. Marie, with the winner advancing to the Telus Cup, in late April in Leduc, Alberta.)
• OHA players were well-represented in the league’s top 20 for playoff scoring, with Pierre Ouellette, of Dieppe, New Brunswick, tied for second overall, collecting seven goals and seven assists for 14 points in eight games.
And, Alex White, of Goose Bay, Labrador, had 14 points, scoring three times and adding 11 assists.
Also finishing in the top 20 were Cody McDermott (Bass River, New Brunswick, 13 points), affiliated player Massimo Carrozza (Montreal, nine points), David Chevrier (Baie Durfe, Que., nine points), Matt Gregoire (St. Andrews West, eight points) and Brian Lovell (Chateauguay, Que., eight points).
• Zach Fortin (St. Jerome, Que.) and Cordell Driscoll (St. Augustine, Que.) shared the goaltending duties in the post-season, both posting 4-0 records.
In regular season action, Fortin was second in the league, with a 12-1-2 mark, and 1.78 goals against average.
• In regular season action, Alex White was the league’s top scorer with 54 points (26 goals) in 32 games.
Liam Alcade (Montreal, 45 points) was second, and Zach Pease (Toronto, 37 points) was ninth.
