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As recent winners of the Chatham Challenge Cup on December 13, the Sarnia Jr. Sting Major Atom MD earned the right to participate in the Atom/Squirt International Silver Stick Finals in Pelham, Ontario near Niagara Falls this past weekend January 5 – 8.

Starting early Thursday January 5 the Jr. Sting began their round robin play against the Aspen Colorado Leafs. Aiden Clark scored Sarnia’s first goal of the campaign in the 2nd period as he fired a well placed wrist shot from the blue line that found the back of the Aspen net. Evan Trigatti assisted on Aiden’s Goal. Spencer Baillie added another goal in the 2nd from Tyler Talbot-Ellis. Apsen was able to score once in the second and again with 1:16 left in the third to end the game in a 2-2 tie. Stevie Schaefer stood between the pipes for the Jr. Sting this game. Mat Waun was the coach's player of the game and Aiden Clark was the parents player of the game.

Next up were the Redbank New Jersey Generals which the Jr. Sting defeated 2-1. The Generals opened the scoring at the mid-way point of the second period. Collin Zimmer scored both goals for Sarnia in the third period. Collins first goal was unassisted and his second goal was assisted by Spencer Baillie. Cameron Stevens tended the net for Sarnia and earned the victory. Kaz Gudelis was the coach's pick for player of the game and the parent's gave Collin Zimmer the nod.

In game 3 Sarnia played the Nashville Tennessee Flyers and the Jr. Sting earned a convincing 5-0 victory. Scoring for the Jr. Sting were Damon Skinn-Wai from Evan Trigatti and Ryan Eyre, Cole Goosens from Collin Zimmer and Greg Ross, Cole Goosens again from Mat Waun and Nathan Oliphant, Evan Trigatti from Ryan Eyre and Spencer Baillie and Collin Zimmer from Nathan Abbott and Tyler Talbot-Ellis. Stevie Schaefer earned the shut-out. Damon Skinn-Wai was the coach's player of the game and Greg Ross earned the parent's puck.

In the final Round Robin game the Jr. Sting tied the host team the Pelham Panthers 4-4. Scoring for Sarnia was Tyler Talbot-Ellis from Collin Zimmer and Spencer Baillie, Cole Goosens from Nathan Abbott and Aiden Clark, Spencer Baillie from Aiden Clark and Cole Goosens for his second of the game unassisted. Cameron Stevens faced another tough challenge in net for the Jr. Sting. Nathan Oliphant was the coach's player of the game and Cameron Stevens was the parent's pick.

This put the Major Atom MD’s in top spot in their pool after the round robin and they now faced the Napierville, Illinois Sabres in the quarter finals. Knowing that this was the first elimination game the Jr. Sting came out firing on all cylinders and won by a score of 6-0. Scoring for Sarnia was Evan Trigatti from Ryan Eyre, Nathan Oliphant from Mat Waun and Ian Bailey, Spencer Baillie from Ryan Eyre and Evan Trigatti, Spencer again from Evan Trigatti, Cole Goosens from Kaz Gudelis and Cole once more unassisted. Stevie Schaefer earned his second shut-out of the tournament. Spencer Baillie was the coach's choice for the player of the game and Evan Trigatti was the parent's pick.

In the Semi Finals the Jr. Sting faced a strong Oakville Rangers team. The Oakville group entered the semi’s with a very strong record and jumped out to a 1 goal lead four minutes into the game. The Rangers continued to put pressure on goalie Cameron Stevens, out chancing Sarnia in the first half of the game. Momentum slowly swung in Sarnia’s favor despite the Rangers picking up a controversial goal with six minutes left in the third. Sarnia kept pressing and was rewarded with 1:10 left in the game as Spencer Baillie scored from Nathan Oliphant. With the Sarnia Goalie on the bench Cole Goosens added another goal to tie the game with 36 seconds left in the contest from Ian Bailey and Nathan Oliphant. Off the next face-off Cole Goosens grabbed the puck and fought his way to the front of the Oakville net where he buried a wrist shot over the Rangers goalie shoulder to steal the win. This was a huge individual effort from Cole and was the talk of the tournament that day. Cole Goosens was the coach's and parents pick for the player of the game.

The Jr. Sting faced the Waterloo Atom Ice Wolves in the Championship game and fell 5-3 after 3 very hard fought periods of excellent hockey. The Jr. Sting would like to congratulate the Ice Wolves players and coach’s for their well earned victory.

The Waterloo team started out strong and got two quick goals before the Jr. Sting could get their feet underneath them. They added another before Cole Goosens scored from Spencer Baillie to make it 3-1. Cole would score his second goal of the game with 4 minutes left in the second period to close the gap to 3-2 only to have the Ice Wolves answer a minute later to restore the two goal lead. Cole would get his third goal of the game a minute later to complete his hat-trick with assists going to Evan Trigatti and Spencer Baillie; however Waterloo would once again come right back and score to end the second. In the third period Stevie Schaefer and the Waterloo Goalie both stopped all remaining shots and the Ice Wolves would hang on to win 5-3. Greg Ross was awarded the coach's player of the game and Cole Goosens was the parent's pick.