Markham Waxers Bantam AAA (97s)

Markham Waxers (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

We lost the ETA finals on March 30, 2012 but won in many other ways that this sport of hockey allows us to do.

By the end of the season, the Markham Waxers comprised of 15 Bantam AAA players (of which only 4 had prior AAA experience), 2 Bantam AA players and 1 Minor Bantam AAA player.  The entire team including the staff was built brand new from the ground up by new head coach Dave Galajda (there were no players from the previous year).

The team from last year only won 3 games and was ranked 62nd in Ontario.  Our goals were to compete in every game, keep goals against below 100 and make it to the playoffs.  We ended up in 4th place in our division.  A playoff spot!  85 goals against in regular season play, 21 wins and 12 ties in regular season, exhibition, tournaments and playoffs.

We fell 3 games to 0 in the first round of the OMHAs to the Barrie Colts and won two 'best of 3' series in the ETA playoffs.  In game 3 vs. Oshawa Generals, we went into the 3rd period down 2-0 only to come back and win the series in OT.  We took the semi-finals in game 3 vs. Clarington.

Game 3 seems to be a trend for the team.  We won the first game of the finals vs. South Central Coyotes 2-0, lost game two 3-1 but lost game three 3-1.  The series was a 35th ranked team vs. an 11th ranked team.  The best part was that the Waxers competed as a team.  A team that on hockey community paper in April 2011 was not expected to even get out of the basement.

As one of the Assistant Coaches, I was able to see players from Markham, Newmarket, Aurora, Uxbridge Sunderland and Toronto find their team potential.  The numbers tell one story but watching the boys compete in one of Ontario's strongest loops is a great experience to be a part of.  This team had class and respect for their opponents too (with the exception of a few mis-timed 'cele's').  No chirping at refs from the bench and no chirping at other coaches either.

A personal thanks to Coach Dave for following us home from the exhibition game in Midland to get us to sign with the team.  As hockey parents, it took us 12 hours to evaluate the opportunity or stay in AA.  Looking back at what I have seen, I would tell other parents to spend 30 minutes to think about it and sign.  Play at the highest level that you can compete.

Now its two weeks off and then tryouts for Minor Midget.