Durham West Lightning Bantam AA Hockey Team: News

To try and qualify for 2012 OWHA Provincials on April 13th-15th, the Lightning played an 8 game round robin playdown with the two Whitby Wolves teams and the two Clarington Flames teams.  The top 3 of the 5 teams will advanced to Provincials.  Unfortunately, the Lightning came up just short and will not be playing in Provincials this year.  See the OWHA playdown site for the standings and schedule/scores.

After a successful regular season, the Lightning's 3rd place finish set them up to play the 6th place Scarborough Sharks in the first round of the Lower Lakes Female Hockey League (LLFHL) playoffs.  All series are a first to 4 points with a 3 games maximum, with overtime/shootout in game 3 only. 

The Lightning dropped Game 1 by a score of 2-1; tied Game 2 at 0-0; and won Game 3 by a score of 2-1.  As a result both teams were tied with 3 points and a 5 minute overtime was played which was scoreless.  A 3 player shootout ensued and the Lightning clinched the series with 2 goals vs Scarborough's single goal.

The Lightning then went on to play Clarington Flames 1 in Round 2.  Game 1 was a 0-0 tie; Game 2 Clarington won 7-1; and Game 3 the Lightning won 3-1.  As a result, the series was tied 3 points each and therefore overtime was played and Clarington scored to win the series.

A great playoff run girls!  Visit the LLFHL site for the playoff brackets and schedule/scores.

The Lightning hosted 3 other Bantam AA teams in their 18th Annual Durham West Tournament held Feb 16th to 19th.  The other teams included Belleville, Mississauga and Nepean.  The top two teams played in the championship game. 

The Lightning finished the round robin with a record of 1 win (Belleville 5-0) and two ties (Mississauga 2-2 & Nepean 5-5).  As a result, they finished 1st overall and played Belleville in the Final.  The Lightning finished as Finalist due a 3-1 loss.   

Visit the tournament website for all the details including the results.

On Dec 9th-11th, the Lightning participated in the 23rd Annual Markham-Stouffville Bantam Classic Tournament.  The 16 team Bantam AA division was divided into 4 pools with the Lightning playing against Etobicoke, Ottawa and Aurora.  The Lightning started the tournament with a 2-0 upset win over Etobicoke, then lost to Ottawa 1-0 and Aurora 2-0.  These teams were ranked above the Lightning.  As a result, the Lightning went on to finish the tournament by playing a consolation game against West Northumberland and won 4-1.  In all, a good showing against some of the top teams in Ontario.

Click here for the tournament website including all the results.

The Lightning headed south of the border for the Manon Rheaume Tournament in Farmington Hills, Michigan, on November 11-13th.  The team made the trip with 11 skaters and 2 goalies, as two players were unable to participate due to injury. There were 12 Bantam AA teams, 8 from the USA and 4 from Canada.  Games were 3x15 minute periods.  Click here for all the final results.

The Lightning played in a pool with the Anaheim Lady Ducks, Detroit Compuware and Detroit Honeybaked and won 7-4, won 9-2 and tied 1-1 respectively.  This strong finish placed them 1st in their pool and 3rd overall. 

As the 3rd seed, they matched up against the 6th seeded Colorado Select.  Despite showing some fatigue, the Lightning defeated Colorado 4-2 to advance to the semi-final.  

In the semi, the Lightning played the Pittsburgh Penguins Elite team.  The Lightning took the early lead but Pittsburgh rebounded with goals of their own including a 4th to take a 4-3 lead with 5 minutes remaining in the game.  However, on the power play the Lightning tied the game with just over 2 minutes left on the clock to send the game to overtime.  An unbelievable shootout ensued with Pittsburgh shooting first.  After 3 shooters each there were no goals, but Pittsburgh scored with their 4th shooter.  As a result, the pressure was on to score now or the game was over.  The Lightning's 4th shooter was up to the task and buried the shot to allow the excitement to continue!  Both teams' goalies put on a breakaway stopping clinic and shut down the shooters until the 8th player for the Lightning, 16th overall, put a shot over the Pittsburgh goalie's blocker to win the game!!!  On to the Finals! 

The Championship Final had the Lightning see their first Canadian team of the tournament, the North York Storm. They had previously lost to the Storm by a score of 4-2 in early October.  Despite only having 11 skaters for 230 minutes of hockey in the first 5 games, the Lightning showed their conditioning level (and it helped being full of adrenalin from the semi!) and played their best game with a strong committment to defence, outshooting the Storm 28-9, and winning the championship by a convincing 4-0 score.   

The annual tournament is in support of the Manon Rheaume Foundation and the team attended the fundraiser banquet on Friday evening.  It was a great time together and included inspirational speeches from Laura Schuler, currently the head coach of Canada's National U22 Team and assistant coach of the University of Minnesota Deluth Bulldogs in the NCAA, along with the host Manon Rheaume, the only woman to play in an NHL game.  The Lightning's support of the fundraiser showed clearly as collectively the team won more of the raffles than any other and included an autographed Detroit Red Wings jersey, autographed goalie stick and book from Manon, NHL 12 PS3 game, hockey equipment x3, and the 50/50.

Congratulations to all the players and coaching staff on being the 2011 Manon Rheaume Invititational Tournament Bantam AA (U14) Champions!!!!  It was a fun weekend on and off the ice for everyone.

The Bantam AA Lightning are proud to announce Goodmans LLP Barristers & Solicitors and the Marco Polo Seafood as our 2011-2012 major team sponsors.  Compliments of the Ernst's, Goodmans has been a team sponsor for the Lightning for the last few seasons. Thanks to the Lamanna's, Marco Polo Seafood was a sponsor for the previous seasons and we now welcome Marco Polo as a major team sponsor for the first time. We wish to express our appreciation to them for their investment in youth hockey and specifically our team.  We look forward to proudly wearing the company names on our NEW jerseys! 

The 2011-2012 Lightning roster has been set and congratulations are extended to:

** Christina Calederon ** Liane Chretien ** Nicole Dodge ** Sarah Emara ** Jamie Ernst ** Alyssa Gee **  ** Gabriella Lamanna **  ** Katia Lepka ** Emily Morgan ** Caitlyn Quartarone ** Shannon Rivers ** Taylor Rovo ** Katie Strain ** Rowan Thomson ** Alexandra White ** 

The Lightning attended their second tournament of the season, the Oakville Harvest Classic, on Thanksgiving weekend.  There were 8 Bantam AA teams divided into two pools and the Lightning were in a pool with Oakville #1, Barrie and Brampton. 

After 3 games the Lightning finished 3rd in their pool and went on to play the 2nd seeded Chatham Outlaws from the other pool in the quarter final game.  It was an entertaining game with the Lightning taking a 1-0 lead at the end of the 2nd period.  With 3 minutes left in the game, Chatham tied it up but the Lightning would regain the lead on the powerplay and held on for the win. 

The Lightning then played the Barrie Sharks who finished first in their round robin pool.  Depsite a great effort with 11 skaters, they were outskated by Barrie by the same score of 3-1 as in round robin play. 

A great weekend for the Lightning.  Visit the tournament website for the final results.