After winning their Regional Silver Stick last month in Haliburton the Dorchester Dragon Midget AE team traveled to Pelham to take on the best of the best in the International Silver Stick Finals. The team started slow losing their first game Thursday morning to the Ajax Knights 5-0. Not getting down on themselves, the team would rebound to defeat the St. Marys Rock 3-2 that afternoon.
Friday morning brought an early 7AM start but the team arose to the challenge and edged the Mt. Brydges Cougars 2-1 in a tight, intense battle. Friday afternoon brought the Quarter-Finals and the Dragons were pitted against the Ayr Flames. In a very close game, which included the Dragons killing off a penalty in the final two minutes of a tie game a shootout was used to break the tie. In the shootout Dragon winger TJ Goulden scored the only goal for the team in the shootout but it was enough as goalie Ashton Moore was perfect in stopping all three Flames attempts and a Semi-Final berth was earned.
Saturday's Semi-Final match was against the Orangeville Flyers who had allowed no goals in their first four games of the tournament and were confident that a Finals berth was in their grasp. Not to be deterred the Dragons worked hard as a team and scored the first goal against the Flyers all tournament and added 3 more en route to a huge 4-3 win earning the coveted spot in the final game and a chance to play for the championship.
Sunday's Championship Final would turn out to be a rematch of Dorchester versus Ajax who had earned their spot in the Finals by shutting out South Kent and Strathroy by identical 2-0 scores. The Dragons gave a valiant effort but came up short losing to Ajax 3-0 and earning the team the Finalist trophy, each player Silver Medals and a Finalist banner to be hung proudly in the Dorchester Arena for years to come.