NEWMARKET - St. Marys Legion Minor Midgets participated at the 24th annual International Silver Stick Minor Finals tournament here this past weekend.
Ken Schiedel’s Rock played five games over three days, making the final four before losing to Woodstock Jr. Navy-Vets Minor Midget A’s 6-4 in a semi-final game Sunday morning. Woodstock then went on to win the championship by edging Atlanta Knights 2-1 in the final.
The Legion Midgets drew one of the more difficult groups in the tournament as it turned out. Two of the three teams they met in round-robin play made it through to the final four.
The locals faced Atlanta in the first game, then East Gwillimbury Eagles in the third game, beating them both in the round-robin stage. Eagles then defeated Dorchester Dragons in an incredible overtime marathon to advance to the semi-finals and face Atlanta. Knights then beat East Gwillimbury to qualify for the final.
St. Marys 4 - Atlanta 2
Facing an unknown team from the U.S. was an exciting prospect for the Legion crew as they approached their first game. Atlanta Knights were winners of the Huntsville, Alabama Regional qualifier.
Knights were a very good skating team and didn’t seem to be affected by their travels as they gave St. Marys all they could handle.
Andrew Davis started the Rock scoring with a hard shot from the blue line, assisted by Matt Stacey. The score was tied 2- 2 after two periods, with Charlie Irwin stealing a lose puck and making a pretty play to briefly put St. Marys up by a goal.
The Legion boys held the balance of scoring chances and went ahead again when Dominic Pieroni tipped in a point shot from Brendan Near. Gord Cookson sealed the game with an empty-netter after some outstanding work to beat an Atlanta defender.
St. Marys 1 - Santa Clara 1
Santa Clara Blackhawks were winners of the San Jose, California Silver Stick Regional, and Legion Midgets played them in the least glamorous of the Newmarket venues. That said, Blackhawks faced quite a few problems with their travel, but seemed recovered for this game and literally battled St. Marys to the 1-1 tie.
Santa Clara took a 1-0 lead in the second period. Goalie Alex Campbell kept the Rock in contention as Blackhawks used their speed and size to hold the balance of play.
Finally, Dominic Pieroni forced in the tying goal after some gritty hard work by Irwin and Dante Pieroni down low.
St. Marys 2 - East Gwillimbury 1
East Gwillimbury Eagles (north of Newmarket) were sure of advancing to the playoff round with two wins in round-robin play, but St. Marys needed to win this game to assure themselves of a spot.
There was also the added incentive to finish first in the division to avoid playing league nemesis Dorchester Dragons in the quarter-finals. The Rock struggled to find their game and again it was goalie Campbell who kept the game close as Eagles held the advantage in scoring chances.
East Gwillimbury held a 1-0 lead late in the second period when Dominic Pieroni jammed the puck home after a battle deep in the zone to tie the score.
St. Marys started to control the play in the third, and Charlie Irwin scored the winning goal on a give-and-go with Dominic and Dante Pieroni working the end boards in the Eagles’ zone.   
St. Marys 3 - Nobleking 1
(Quarter-finals)
The Legion Midgets found a spark of their ‘A’ game for this eagerly anticipated match. Coming from the nearby Nobleton/King City area, Nobleking Knights were winners of the Vaughan, Ontario Regional Qualifier.
The Rock started well and completely dominated the first period, but only held a 1-0 lead to show for it on a goal by Irwin, assisted by Brendan Near and Dominic Pieroni.
St. Marys took a 2 -0 lead in the second on a quick shot by Dominic Pieroni off a pass from brother Dante. Knights came on in the second with some physical play and scored their lone goal only 30 seconds later.
Midway through the third, the Rock fought back and frustrated a tired Knights team. On a powerplay, Dominic would score his second of the game, tipping in a belt high shot from Andrew Davis to finish the scoring.  
In net for St. Marys, Alex Campbell again had to play well, especially through the middle part of the game and late in the game as the Rock killed a penalty as time expired.
Woodstock 6 - St. Marys 4
(Semi-finals)
The Woodstock team had hosted the Regional Qualifier they won and were considered a top seed going into the competition. Navy-Vets play in the very competitive Alliance AA/A Seeded division, but St. Marys had faced that competition before.
The Rock again typically started very well, taking a 1-0 lead in the first period on a terrific end-to-end rush by Andrew Davis. The balance of the game, however, was a very untypical Legion Midget game.
The Navy-Vets found lots of space in the St. Marys’ zone and were able to score four goals in seven minutes in the second period to take control of the game.
Davis connected again on a similar play and Dominic Pieroni scored twice to make the score 5- 4 Woodstock. The Rock was out of gas at this point and with their goalie out for the extra attacker, Navy-Vets sealed the win into an empty net.
Represented St. Marys admirably
Overall, this Legion Minor Midget team gained a lot of respect from all observers for their gritty, determined play. Their performance as a team is consistently greater than the sum of its parts.
Virtually everyone had bumps, bruises, scrapes and some had several. These boys represented St. Marys very admirably over the weekend, many of them facing this level of competition for the first time in their hockey careers.
Congratulations on a terrific performance and good luck with the OMHA playdowns, starting this Friday night in Dorchester.