MANITOULIN—The Manitoulin Minor Hockey Association (MMHA) league playoffs are now in full gear with the Island champions being determined in two leagues.
Both the novice and tyke divisions played their league playoff championship tournament last weekend in Wikwemikong in both the A and B divisions, with the four top teams in the regular season standings in the A division and the next four teams playing in the B championship.
In the Novice A division, the Mindemoya Thunder won the championship with a 6-1 victory in the final game against the Gore Bay Bruins.
For Mindemoya, the championship capped off a season in which they won all their games, 20 in the regular season and the five games in last weekend’s playoff tournament.
The Mindemoya Thunder Novice team includes head coach Jon Balfe, assistant coach-manager Darren Brown, assistant coach/goalie coach Mike Bridgeman, and players John Thirkill, Seth Verboom, Tessa Prior, Sadie Bridgeman, Liam LaRiviere, Rylan Carrick, Mya Balfe, Noah Thorpe, Jack Bridgeman, Kohan Campbell, Erin Spry and Lucas Brown.
In the Tyke A division, the Mindemoya Thunder prevailed, defeating Wikwemikong #1 team in the final Mindemoya had finished in first place in the regular season with Wikwemikong #1 in second place. The two teams squared off in their first game of the playoffs last Friday evening in Wikwemikong with the two teams tying the game. On Saturday Mindemoya lost to Little Current and later in the day beat Wikwemikong #2. Then Mindemoya defeated Wikwemikong #2 to get to the finals against the Wikwemikong #1 team.
Steve Redmond, coach of the Mindemoya team, explained “we got behind 3-0 in the final game but the kids came back with a strong late second period rally and continued in the third period. We won the final by a score of 5-4.”
The Mindemoya tyke team includes head coach Steve Redmond, assistant coaches Reid Taylor and Chris King, rainier Darren Brown, manager Christa King, and players Jonah Balfe, Chase Taylor, Thomas Redmond, Adam Spry, Corie Brown, Easton Assinewai, Ethan McKenzie, Samantha McKenzie, Brinley Watson, Scarlet Mohr, Maximum King, Theo Verboom, and Kaci Lariviere.
The Novice B division was won by Wikwemikong, while the Tyke B division was won by M’Chigeeng.
