Icebreakers Net Winter Classic PeeWee Crown

The Seaway Icebreakers PeeWee hockey team, consisting of players from around St. Lawrence County, recently competed at the 6th Annual Winter Classic Tournament in Ottawa.

Despite being denied eligibility to represent the North Country in New York State tournament play, the North Country contingent represented the United States and St. Lawrence County well in Canada's Capital where they fashioned four wins in five games to claim top honors in the Major PeeWee AA Division.

The locals, who were coached by John Hart, Mike Grant, Guy Kelley and Bill Pickering, opened the tournament with a 7-2 win over the Cumberland Junior Grads in what turned out to be their easiest game of the weekend. The Icebreakers improved to 2-0 with a hard-fought 2-0 win over the Ottawa Sting, sealing the win in the closing seconds. They went on to suffer their only loss of the tournament, wrapping up the preliminary round with a 4-3 setback to the Nepean Raiders.

Despite the loss, the Icebreakers earned a bid to the tournament semi-finals where they reversed their loss to Nepean by notching a 4-3 overtime victory and advanced to the championship game, a rematch against The Sting.

In the title game, the teams battled to a 3-3 tie through three periods of regulation. The first overtime, where the teams skated four-on-four, produced no goals as did the ensuing second overtime which was played three-on-three.

A five-player shoot-out was used to determined the tournament champion. Nathan Burnett stoppped four of the five Ottawa skaters he faced while Lukas Arquiett and Hayden Hart broke through for the goals as the Icebreakers came away with a 2-1 win in the shoot-out which lifted them to the tournament crown.

The Icebreakers put together a successful 2009-10 season, having skated to a championship at the St. Albans Thanksgiving Tournament in Vermont and earning a silver medal at the CanAm AAA Challenge Cup in Montreal. Team members include: Forwards - Cody Moore, Chad Varney, Logan Ford, Arquiett (MVP), Conner McGraw, Kayden Pickering, Austin Cousineau, Tyler Valdez (MVP). Defense - Kalie Grant, Hart, Brandin Cousineau (MVP), Adam Kelley, Tyler Fobare, Johnny Gustafson, Zach Boldt, along with Jeff Bain and Burnett (MVP) in goal.