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Team
Raiders Bantam Black Team
Ellenton Labor Day Champions
Congratulations to Coach TA and the Raiders Bantam Black Team
who won the A-Division Championship at this year’s Ellenton
Labor Day Tournament. After a strong start, winning Game one 5-3
and Game two 7-0 (shut-out by Alex Miller), the Raiders fell
0-3. Going into Monday morning’s 8:00 am game, the Raiders
needed to win in order to advance to the Championship game. They
did just that winning 5-2 against the Everblades, behind a solid
defensive effort. In the Championship game, the Raiders faced a
tough 4-0 Brandon Bulls who had outscored their opponents 23-3.
Our Raiders soundly defeated the Bulls 3-0 lead by Bobby O’Keefe
with two goals and a solid shutout by Zack Langham. Our guys
showed their pride and appreciation by parading into the South
Rink where Coach Trevor was still managing a tight Midget
Championship game. The pounding on the glass and the applause by
the crowd finally got Coach Trevor’s attention who thrust his
fist in victory.
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Team
Raiders Bantam Black Team
Regional Silversticks Finalists
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After a slow start to the weekend, going 0-3 in the round robin
games, the Raiders Bantam A Black team knew they would have to step
up their game for the playoff rounds. And step-it-up they did !!!!
In the Semi-Finals they played the Titans White team (who was 3-0
and the #1 seed). It was a very exciting game, with the Raiders
coming back from a 2 goal deficit to tie the game and send it to OT.
Both teams had very good scoring chances in the OT but the goalies
were solid. With less than a minute left in OT, Brandon Cherry poked
in a rebound for the winning goal.
In the other semi-final, Huntsville beat the Atlanta Fire, so the
Raiders had to play Huntsville in the Championship game. In the
round-robin the big, fast and physical Huntsville team beat the
Raiders 4-0 so the boys knew they would face some tough competition.
The Raiders came out flying in the championship game and took a
4-1 lead. Huntsville scored a PP goal at the end of the 2nd
period to grab the momentum heading into the 3rd. Huntsville
made it 4-3 with 8 minutes left and tied the score with about
1:30 left. With both teams thinking about OT, the Huntsville
captain broke into the offensive zone and buried a wrist shot
with 8 seconds left to steal the win...
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