(Thunder Bay, Ontario) – The Thunder Bay Chill U17 Reserve Boys captured the Ontario Cup Provincial Championship Tier II today in Vaughn, Ontario beating North Mississauga Panthers 5-0. This is the 2nd Provincial title for the Chill Reserves after winning it for the first time ever in 2009.
Mackenzie Pytyck recorded the shut-out for the Chill while Patrick Van Bellenghem and Kristian Zanette get two goals each and Mitchell Voell getting the single. The Chill dominated the game from the start with Voell getting the winner in the 15th minute. The Chill never looked back with a lock on the lead 3-0 at the half.
The Ontario Cup, the Provincial Soccer Championship, is the largest competition of its kind in Canada, and is The Ontario Soccer Association’s flagship property. The Ontario Cup is one of the oldest sporting events in Canada, first staged in 1901 and operated continuously since that date (with the exception of World War 2).
The Ontario Cup involves close to 12,000 athletes, from Windsor’s Roselands to Thunder Bay’s Sleeping Giant, from the Nation’s Capital to Niagara Falls. The competition commences in May, with over 660 teams being drawn into either a Knock-Out round or a Round-Robin style tournament, leading to a pre-determined set of venues throughout the Province for the Semi-Finals held in August. It culminates with the Final Round at The Soccer Centre in Vaughan, with the added prize of a National Club Championship in the Under 14’s, Under 16’s, Under 18’s, Men’s and Women’s divisions.
“Winning an Ontario championship is always prestige and special. I am very proud of the boys considering the age of our roster. We actually have only four players who are 17, three are 16, and the remainder of the boys is 15”, states Head Coach Saverio Lento.
The Reserves are considered the 2nd team to the PDL squad that lost in their 2nd straight final four this past August. “We saw this year Jon and Gavin who were part of the 1st Ontario Cup championship a few years back and now play in our PDL team and I can see this team having similar candidates in a few years,” replied PDL coach Tony Colistro.
This Ontario Cup championship concludes the outdoor season for another Chill youth competitive club. The Girls U14 Select team will play Wednesday night in the Senior Women’s title game and that will finalize the outdoor season for 14 Chill youth competitive teams. The outdoor season was a success for all teams in particular the U14 Boys winning the North Region Soccer title and U12 Boys winning the USA Cup Gold A Flight division.
The Club now prepares the indoor training program. Parents are invited to attend a meeting at the Prince Arthur Waterfront Hotel and Suites this Thursday September 22, 2011 at 7:00pm to find out more information about the program.
