2014 World Outdoor Ball Hockey Championships – Men’s Over 35 & Co-Ed Rundown

The 19th Annual World Outdoor Ball Hockey Championships wrapped up just over a week ago and featured a slew of great games, stunning upsets and many happy champions! The entire tournament saw 80 teams from all over Ontario, Montreal, Chicago, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, Boston and other U.S. locations compete for 9 different championships over two weekends at our two largest facilities. Below is the rundown on the Men’s Over 35 & Co-Ed Event held in St.Catharines. The Men’s Over 35 & Co-Ed portion of the tournament took place at the Niagara Ball Hockey Club in St.Catharines, from Friday, October 10th to Sunday the 12th and featured a total of 24 teams over 4 different divisions. Men’s Over 35 Division The Men’s Over 35 round robin was crammed full of high calibre talent for this year’s event and featured many players who recently participated in the ISBHF Masters World Cup of Ball Hockey tournament in September. The Barrie National, the 2013 Finalists, Burlington Stars and talented newcomers Granby Pile ou Face finished the first round of the tournament with a sterling 3 and 0 record. The team from Granby were on fire and outscored their opponents 21-2 during those 3 games while the National followed suit out-duelling their opposition 20-3 and setting the bar high for teams looking to take home the championship. The defending champs Niagara Nitro had a tough draw but managed to scrape through to the quarterfinals after a dominating 12-3 win over Team Canada in their third game. This set them up with a rematch of last year’s finals with the Stars to decide who moved on. The game was a close one and saw both sides take many penalties including a costly one for the Stars that allowed the Niagara team to go up 3-2 in the third. The Stars battled to the end but Nitro pulled out the victory to clinch their spot in the semis. In the other games, Granby continued their dominance by sending Team Canada home with an 8-1 win, the National were too strong for the Orillia Watchmen who fell 5-2 and Barrie Doc Islanders beat the Hamilton Wings 4-2 to secure their spots. In the semis, Nitro faced off against Pile ou Face and after falling behind early and battling to get back in the game and could not pull out the win for a chance to defend their title as Granby won 5-3. The other semi final matchup saw two Barrie teams facing off against one another. The National took on long time rivals, the Doc Islanders to claim the last spot in the championship. The Doc Islanders fought hard but the National were just too much offensively and defensively as they came away with a 4-1 victory to move into the finals. This pitted the top two seeded teams in the finals against each other with Granby Pile ou Face taking on Barrie National. This game was a battle for the ages that saw a continuous push back and forth from both teams right up until the end as the refs let the players play. The game was tied 1-1 after three and headed to overtime to decide the winner. After a scramble in the Granby zone, Barrie got the ball back to the point to clear and fired a shot from the blue line that fooled the Granby goalie and ended the game in a 2-1 victory for the National as they were crowned the 2014 Men’s Over 35 Champions. Co-Ed Open Division The Co-Ed Open division was a closely contested affair with only 1 game in the round robin being determined by more than 2 goals. The Niagara War Piglets finished with a perfect 3-0 record to claim the top seed and only allowed 2 goals in 3 games. In the semi finals the War Piglets took to the floor to take on the Barrie Rangers. This was a fast paced game that saw chances for three periods at both ends of the rink. In the end the War Pigs picked up the lone goal in the game to head into the finals. The other semi saw the second seeded Beastie Boys & Bitches take on the number 3 seed, Orillia Bear Back Bandits. Just as it was in the round robin, we witnessed another close game that featured nonstop action up and down the floor with the Bear Back Bandits pulling out the upset in a 3-2 win to force a rematch with the Piglets whom they lost 1-0 to earlier in the tournament. In one of only two games that were decided by more than 2 goals in the Co-Ed Open division, the War Piglets made no mistake and buried 3 goals and shut out the Orillia team for their third shutout in a row and took home the Co-Ed Open Championship. Co-Ed Competitive Division The Co-Ed Competitive division saw 5 teams competing for the championship and the early favourites after the round robin portion was the Marvellous Boys & Bitches who went 2-0 to take the top seed. The 4th seeded Hotdogs & Hallways took on the 2013 Finalists, Orillia Dozers & Hoes in an elimination game to decide who would face the number 1 seed in the semi finals. The Hotdogs and Hallways struggled all tournament to get on the scoreboard and did not manage to net one goal in the semis as they fell 2-0 to the Dozers and Hoes. In the semis, Barrie Sofa King Great took on the St.Catharines Scorgasms for a chance at the ‘ship and played a gritty, fast paced game. Penalties cost the Sofa King Great 2 goals, which were enough for the St.Catharines team to take the win 3-1. In the other semi final, Marvellous Boys & Bitches and Dozers & Hoes battled through 3 periods in a game that did not slow down once. The Boys & Bitches scored a heart breaker with 2 seconds left in the game to win 2-1 and earn their […]