The 2022 KC Christmas Classic is in the books! Four days of great gameplay involving 46 teams spread across four different divisions wrapped up Sunday afternoon at Tournament Centre.
First up was the U11A Championship Final, which saw the top two seeds from the round robin meet in a thrilling battle for the trophy. The top seeded KC Whalers had gone 4-0 in the round robin, and then made it past the North End Flames and Neebing Hawks to book their spot in the final. The second seed in the round robin was the Neebing Wildhawks, with a 3-0-1 record...the Wildhawks took care of the Rainy Lake Attack in the quarterfinals, before falling behind 3-0 to the Petersen Building Supplies Elks in the semifinal. The Wildhawks would not be denied their spot in the final, as they came storming back with four late unanswered goals to stun the Elks and book their ticket to the championship match.
The final between the Wildhawks and Whalers didn't disappoint, with the Wildhawks racing off to a 3-0 lead of their own, behind a strong team effort, and stellar goaltending. The Whalers gave their fans something to cheer about in the third period, with two quick goals to ensure an exciting finish. Neebing's goalie made numerous big saves during a late Whalers power play, and the Wildhawks hung on to bring home the trophy as the U11A Christmas Classic Champions. Congratulations Wildhawks!
Next up was the U13A Championship match! Much like the U11 final, this game saw the two top seeds from the round robin meet in the showdown for the championship. The top seed from Pool A was the West End Bruins, who got through the preliminary round with three wins and a tie. The Bruins took down the North End Flames and the PA Westfort Maroons in two close playoff games to punch their ticket to the final. Joining them from Pool B would be the top seeded KC Golden Knights, who got through the round robin with a perfect record of four wins and no losses. The Knights would go on to dispose of the KC Kraken in the quarterfinals, before getting past the Norwest Stars in the semis.
The Golden Knights ended up proving to be just too strong for the Bruins in the final, with a convincing 8-3 win to bring home the trophy and claim their home tournament's top prize.
We'd be remiss if we didn't offer congratulations one more time to our first champions of the weekend, the U9 Norwest Shooting Stars, who won Friday night's Biosteel Epic Shootout in a thrilling final over the KC Lightning in front of a raucous crowd. The Shooting Stars took home not only the trophy, but each player received an entire case of Biosteel as a reward! Huge thanks go out to Biosteel NWO for their support of not only this exciting event, but also of so many different events on the youth sports calendar in Thunder Bay. Congrats, Shooting Stars!
We'd like to congratulate all the players, coaches, and families on a great weekend of hockey, and thank all the officials, volunteers, and everyone who helped contribute to make the 2022 KC Christmas Classic a rousing success!
With that, we'd like to pass the baton to our friends and Elks Minor Hockey, and wish them luck with their Santa Claus Showdown next week!
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