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Titans return after historic campaign

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How does a high school hockey program build on its most successful year ever? We’re about to find out.

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The Holy Trinity Titans not only swept the county finals last year but the boys squad went on to win Norfolk’s first OFSAA team title in recent memory while the girls made it to the Central West semis.

With a new season set to kick off next week, both clubs are looking to build on a decorated 2017-18 campaign.

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Boys

As difficult as it is to believe, the Titans might be even better than the group that captured provincial honours last year. While stalwarts Theo Hill and Dylan Robinson are now plying their trade at the junior ranks, a number of triple-A calibre players have entered the fold.
They join a senior-laden roster that has last year’s experience fresh in their memory.

“Different year, different team,” said head coach Chris VanParys. “Expectations will be high based on the fact we have a lot of returning guys. Did we lose some of the core? For sure, but I think the new guys that took their spots will fill those spots just fine.”

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Leading Holy Trinity will be the likes of goalie Spencer Kowalsky and defenders Cole Robinson and Owen Koot. They’ll share the spotlight with the likes of Maddox Callens, Landon McCallum, Keegan Damota, Jonah Cochrane and Steven LaForme – all members of the Brantford 99ers minor midget squad that’s first place in the Minor Hockey Alliance of Ontario.
All that talent has the Titans thinking about a repeat performance.

“Do I think we could do it again? For sure,” said VanParys.

“As long as we gel like we did last year I think we’ll be just fine and I think we have a good chance of doing the same thing.”

With that being said, Holy Trinity must win games locally first and go from there.
“They know the overall goal now and because of what we did last year, they’re looking ahead,” the coach noted. “I don’t want them looking too far ahead, obviously, we’ve got to take it step by step.”

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Many of the Titans play top minutes for their minor hockey clubs, which for some teams would be cause for concern with only one puck to go around. That’s not the case with the current group, VanParys said.

“They gel really, really well and they’re all buddies,” he said. “All lot of these guys play together and that’s what made us good last year, even though we had kids coming from different areas, we gelled and we gelled at the right time and it worked out great.”
The first day of NSSAA boys hockey action will be played Dec 12 in Waterford.

Girls

Much like the school’s boys outfit, the Titans girls will return with mostly Grade 12s on the roster. That bodes well for a team that did lose leaders in the form of captain Lexi Paulmert and veteran Erin Benko.

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“I think we have a strong team overall, we’ve got a couple Grade 9s in the lineup but predominately seniors so we should be looking to compete for NSSAA and hopefully CWOSSA,” said head coach John Bramer.

Some of the go-to players are Lauren Quilty, Daniella Michaud, Jamie Millson, and Caitlin Mahaffy.

Despite a stacked roster, Bramer isn’t looking too far down the road.

“If we get a chance to go to CWOSSA that would be great, but I think our goal is just to win NSSAA first and try to get to CWOSSA,” he said. “We don’t have any expectations at all.”

With only three freshmen on the squad, Bramer said the team should be able to hit the ground running when the season kicks off Dec 10 in Waterford.

“Having a lot of seniors, I think a team can really carry itself,” he said. “A lot of these girls have been on the team for four years so they know what’s going on and what’s expected. I think we should be good.”

jrobinson@postmedia.com

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