Ed O’Leary appears courtesy of the Brantford Expositor

Michigan Summit Plastics held off a rally by the Brantford 99ers on Tuesday to capture the bantam A championship at the 39th annual Wayne Gretzky International Hockey Tournament.

Summit Plastics, a squad which plays out of Fraser, Mich., built a 3-0 lead but needed a power-play goal late in the third period to secure a 4-2 victory over the never-say-die 99ers at the Gretzky Centre.

“It’s been a long tournament,” said 99ers’ head coach Jim Buchan.

Buchan said the team only had nine skaters available for the first three games because of suspensions, injuries and other absences.

In the round-robin portion of the tournament, the 99ers opened with a 6-0 win over the Clarkson Hurricanes but lost 5-2 to Summit and 1-0 to the Hamilton Tigers.

Meanwhile, Summit cruised through the round robin, defeating Brantford, the Tigers 3-0 and Clarkson 7-0.

In semifinal action, Summit thumped Clarkson 7-0 and Brantford, with the majority of its players back in the lineup, beat Hamilton 7-1.

“That’s a very good hockey team that we played tonight,” Buchan said of Summit, which plays in a AAA league in Michigan.

“It’s very tough to classify American teams.”

Summit looked as though it was going to run away with the championship game.

Matthew Seidel made it 1-0 in the first period, and Sly Sutter and Sean Erni increased the lead to 3-0 by the 5:40 mark of the second period.

Read More

Other Tournament News:

• Classy Move To End Tournament
• Minor Bantam AAA”s Finish On Top
• Peewee MD Saints Win In OT
• 99ers Vie For Championship Berths
• Atom Teams Battle To The End
• No Gatorade Shower For 99ers Coach
• 99er’s Face Stiffer Test Today
• Photos From Day 1
• Gretzky Tournament Set To Kickoff

- Ed O’Leary

Ed O’Leary appears courtesy of the Brantford Expositor

By Ed O’Leary, BRANTFORD EXPOSITOR

BRANTFORD – Jordan Szoke is the biggest star in the Parts Canada Superbike Championship. The 29-year-old from Brantford is a four-time Canadian champion and heavily favoured to capture his fifth crown this summer.

However, Szoke, who is also a two-time Pro 600 Series champion, doesn’t consider himself a celebrity from the world of sports when he’s walking or cruising around his hometown streets.

“It’s an honour to be celebrated in the community as a celebrity,” Szoke said at the Brantford Golf and Country Club where he played as a celebrity in the annual Walter Gretzky/CNIB Charity Celebrity Auction and Golf Classic.

“That’s a cool thing. I love supporting Wally and it’s a great cause. It reminds me of my father (Bob). He (Walter) is a big supporter for Wayne and my father has been just as big a supporter for me.”

The tournament committee voted Szoke as the winner of this year’s Award of Merit for his contributions to success of the tournament.

Szoke couldn’t play in the tournament last year because he’d suffered an injury racing and his arm was in a sling but he still showed up and rode around the course in a cart with a foursome

“It’s such a good run event,” Szoke said. “I’ve been to a few of these (charity tournaments) and the staff they have here is fantastic.”

Szoke noted that he was in “shock” to receive such a prestigious award.

“It’s an honour and I’m in good company,” said Szoke, noting that previous winners include the Gretzkys (Walter and Wayne), Olympian Kevin Sullivan and former NHLers Doug Jarvis and Chris Gratton.

“When you receive things like that it’s a bit of a weird feeling. I’m just trying to go out and win races and do my job so when you receive awards like that outside of racing, it’s shocking because you don’t expect it.”

Szoke is on the verge of setting several Canadian records in his own sport but trying not to pay attention to all the hype surrounding him at upcoming events such as this weekend’s doubleheader at Mosport near Bowmanville.

“All I’m trying to do is win races and as soon as I win a race I want to win another race,” said the Canadian Kawasaki Motors factory rider, who leads the Superbike and Pro 600 standings into the races Saturday and Sunday.

“Mosport is my favourite track,” Szoke said. “It’s my home race and I’m definitely the fan favourite. It (being the fan favourite) gives you a boost of confidence and you want to win for your fans.”