Ottawa Next Level U12 Boys win Division 2 Gold at Blessed Sacrament Invitational

The ONL U12 boys travelled to Hamilton, Ontario, March 6^th to participate in the Blessed Sacrament Invitational tournament where they took the division 2 gold medal.

The weekend started off with a late Friday game against the Etobicoke Thunder. After a long day of traveling and a late night game, the boys came out slow and lethargic. It was a string of mental errors that lead to a fall of 53-24 to the Thunder.

Saturday would present two challenging games. But the boys were fired up. After a good night’s rest and hearty breakfast, they laced up to face the Brantford Hawks. Knowing they had their work cut out for them to stay in contention, they came out on all cylinders and won a hard fought victory 54-52. This victory gave the boys the confidence they needed for the afternoon game.

The Saturday afternoon game presented an old rival from the year before. Having never beat Stoney Creek NYB, the ONL squad was more motivated than ever to come out strong. In a well-executed team performance, ONL brought their tournament record to 2-1 with a 51-45 victory of Stoney Creek.

The last game of the round-robin play would be against the Wildcats. ONL knew that they required a win to control their fate going into the medal rounds. With that level of motivation, the Wildcats were no match as ONL went on to win 73-44.

The Next Level boys now faced a tie-breaker situation to get into the Gold medal game. The head-to-head victory over Brantford Hawks would be enough to secure the second seed and advance to the Gold medal game. This would be a rematch against the 4-0 Etobicoke Thunder. The fans couldn’t have asked for a more dramatic ending to the tournament.

With pure determination to redeem themselves from the blunder 2 days prior, the Ottawa Next Level squad came out hard and fast going into half time with a 19 point lead. Then, after half-time, the boys seemed to be a bit too comfortable with their large lead and let the Thunder back in the game. So much so that the last 3 minutes the two teams alternated a 1 point lead. Having given up their almost 20 point lead and fighting for their life, ONL never gave up and fought down to the last play of the game where they secured the victory 58-54 over the Thunder to win the Division 2 gold medal.

The weekend tested the boys’ perseverance, heart, and team work.  Without any of those values, they could not have been as successful as they were.

From all the coaches, parents and fans, a huge congratulations to the Ottawa Next Level boys on their hard earned achievement.