The Golden Jets U16 boys completed a very successful weekend of national league competition in Ottawa with a 3-2 record.
The Jets opened up the tournament with a 14-6 victory over DDO Gold (Montreal). The teams were tied 2-2 after one quarter as the Jets showed the signs of the long drive from Toronto right before playing. Then the Jets got untracked and went on a 7-0 run into the middle part of the third quarter to lead 9-2 at that point. Sebastien Nisker and Bora Kaya led the Jets with four goals apiece while Victor Grigoryan netted a hat trick. Nikola Reko chipped in with two goals and Alexander Papalazarou added the final marker.
The next day the Jets wasted no time in building a lead over the Laval Tritons (Montreal) winning the first quarter 4-0. Again the team stretched the lead to 9-2. Kane Law and Nisker each had four goals with Kaya adding a hat trick. Papalazarou and Reko both tallied twice with singles going to Charlie Bottrill and Niko Ivosevic.
The Jets made it three wins in a row by defeating Capital Wave (Ottawa) the next morning by a score of 11-4. The teams played a pair of 2-1 quarters to open the game with the Jets having the advantage in both quarters to lead 4-2 at the half. The team then went on a 5-0 run to put the game away. Reko led all scorers with five goals. Papalazarou added a pair while his brother, Leonidis, Kaya, Ivosevic and Law each scored once.
The final two games of the weekend were against two of the top four teams in the league and the young Jets team (one of the youngest in the league) knew it was in for a rough ride.
After the win over Capital Wave, the team was back in the pool later on Saturday to take on the Montreal Machine. The Jets totally surprised the Machine (and themselves!) by tieing the first quarter 2-2 and being tied 3-3 a few minutes into the second quarter. Then the Jets gave up four unanswered goals to close out the second quarter to trail 7-3. However, instead of rolling over, the Jets fought back in the second half and tied the next two quarters in an eventual 12-8 loss. Kaya carried the team with four goals while Nisker, Reko and both Papalazarou brothers notched one goal each.
On Sunday, the tired team had to face the Ottawa Titans and had a very tough go of it falling behind 10-0 at the half. Though the team won the second half 6-5, this was clearly a lesson in being prepared for the start of every game, regardless of opponent. Nisker with four goals and Reko with two handled the Jets scoring.
The big takeaway from the weekend is how much the team has already improved from the start of training in September. Coach Moh has the team focused on getting better every week and we are looking for even better things when the team hits the playoffs.
Congratulations to the entire team!