The Atom Rep Drayton Defenders are All-Ontario champions. The team won the Ontario Minor Hockey Association (OMHA) Atom ‘D’ championship on March 16, completing a three-game sweep of Woodville with a 3-1 victory on home ice. All three games in the series ended up 3-1 in Drayton’s favour.
Caleb Cribben netted all three goals in the final game, while the rest of the team “played really well defensively and held them off,” said coach Jason Jack.
The provincial title caps an amazing season, which saw the team lose only once in the regular season while going undefeated in the playoffs. The team won 11 playoff games over four series, outscoring opponents 74-14 in the process.
“The confidence, you could see it just grew with everyone all year,” said Jack. “Fun to watch. From the first game of the year to the last you could see the improvement.”
Jack said the final series victory, like the rest of the successful season, was the result of a complete team effort.
“They just played really well as a team. There wasn’t one player that made or broke every game. They bought into our system that we wanted to go with,” Jack noted.
