MYHockey News
MHR Game of the Year #5: Hamilton vs. Oakville U11 Ontario Boys AAA
#9 Hamilton Steel 5, #7 Oakville Rangers 4 – OT
In most sports, it’s not always that team that has played the best over the course of a season that ultimately wins a championship. Usually, it’s the team that’s playing the best at the right time.
Hockey is no different – just ask the annual National Hockey League Presidents’ Trophy winners – and the 2023-24 Hamilton Steel Boys U11 AAA team once again showed us why.
Hamilton concluded the regular season with a 21-5-6 record in Ontario Minor Hockey Association West league play to finish in second place behind the Oakville Rangers. The Steel’s regular-season showing earned them the No. 9 Ontario ranking, according to MYHockey Rankings, while the Rangers, who went 25-4-3 in league play, ended up ranked seventh.
But Hamilton rode the momentum of a late-season six-game winning streak into the OMHA Championships and played its best hockey of the season when the stakes were highest. The Steel concluded the campaign on a 10-1-0 run, posting a 4-1-0 mark in the championship tournament, to capture the OMHA title and the right to don the coveted red hats that are awarded to the champions annually.
Ironically, Hamilton’s hot streak began following a 6-1 loss March 7 against Oakville, which turned out to be its opponent in the OMHA semifinals for what turned out to be our No. 5 MHR Game of the Year. The Steel defeated their league rivals, 5-4, in an overtime thriller then went on to roll past the third-ranked Quinte Red Devils, 7-3, in the championship game.
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#5 Game of the Year Recap
Our fifth-ranked 2023-24 Game of the Year looked like it would go pretty much as expected as Oakville sprinted to a 2-0 first-period lead. The Rangers tallied twice in the final 4:36 of the opening period, with Charlie Ince and Jack Buchanan scoring late in the opening frame.
Hamilton recovered from the difficult opening stanza to flip the script in the middle period, scoring twice in a span of 43 seconds during the closing 2:51 of the second to take a 3-2 lead into the final frame. William Winchester cut the margin to one by scoring with 12:09 remaining in the period before Jameson Kaus and Lincoln Falk tallied with 2:51 and 2:08 showing on the clock, respectively, to seemingly provide the Steel with all the momentum heading into the deciding frame.
“Not so fast,” said the Rangers, however.
Oakville got a pair of goals from Nathan O’Sullivan and William Collaton in a span of 2:47 of the third period to take a 4-3 lead with 7:43 remaining in regulation.
That’s when Tommy Marunchak entered the chat for Hamilton.
Marunchak converted on a rare shorthanded penalty shot with 4:22 left in the third period to tie the game, then buried the game-winner with 6:38 remaining in overtime to lift the Steel to the comeback victory and into the championship game.
Congratulations to the Steel and Rangers on playing in our fifth-ranked MHR Game of the Year!
