Fresh off winning the 2012 Flamboro Downs driving title, J.R. Plante kept it rolling Wednesday at Western Fair, helping skate, pass, and shoot his own "Plante's Paralyzers" to a successful title defense in the annual Horsemen's Hockey Tournament.
Team Paralyzer was undefeated in this year's edition of the tournament en route to securing their fourth Open division victory in the last five years.
"Aaron Byron and I decided six or seven years ago that we should form our own team for the tournament,” said Plante. “And now that we've won the entire thing four of the last five years we're pretty pumped. It's something we really take a lot of pride in.
“Guys like Dunner (Justin Dunn), Ralphie (Nick Boyd), Fish (Dan Fisher), Powell (Brad Powell), Darryl (Langstone) and Tony (Beaton) have been with us from the start...we've got a great core of guys that play great hockey together," he added.
After winning their four opening games against London (6-1), Team Conlin (8-0), Hudon Hurricanes (6-4) and Jamieson Jets (5-3), Team Paralyzer defeated the Jamieson Jets once again in the Championship Game (8-3).
"Curtis (MacDonald) played huge for them (the Jets) in net, but we kept coming,” said Plante. “Jody's team and ours have developed quite a rivalry over the years so beating them in the championship game makes it that much more sweet."
Meanwhile in the Oldtimers (35+) division, Georgian came out on top in another championship showdown against last year’s winners Mortgage Titans.
“I like to thank Dan Creighton for putting the tournament together for us 35 plus guys,” said Georgian captain Mike Sinclair. “Georgian Downs represented accordingly with a winning effort once again.”
Despite being defeated by the defending champions in their first game of the day (2-4), Georgian won their games against Clinton (2-1) and Peterborough (5-2) with the help of a new goalie scouted by Sinclair before taking the championship title (3-1).
“The pizza was good, but a couple bottles of Advil would have been great because I can barely walk after four games,” joked Sinclair after the celebrations.
Results from the tournament are listed below.
OPEN DIVISION
Team Paralyzer, 6 --- London, 1
Jamieson Jets, 5 --- Hudon Hurricanes (& Bob McClure), 4
Team Paralyzer, 8 --- Team Conlin, O
London, 5 --- Hudon Hurricanes, 0
Jamieson Jets, 4 --- Team Conlin, 0
Team Paralyzer, 6 --- Hudon Hurricanes, 4
Team Paralyzer, 5 --- Jamieson Jets, 3
London, 5 --- Team Conlin, 0
Hudon Hurricanes, 4 --- Team Conlin, 1
Jamieson Jets, 4 --- London, 3 (in a sudden-death shootout)
Open Final
Team Paralyzer, 8 --- Jamieson Jets, 3
35+ DIVISION
Mortgage Titans, 4 --- Georgian, 2
Clinton, 8 --- Peterborough, 7
Georgian, 2 --- Clinton, 1
Mortgage Titans, 8 --- Peterborough, 0
Clinton, 1 --- Mortgage Titans, 7
Peterborough, 2 --- Georgian, 5
35+ Final
Georgian, 3 --- Mortgage Titans, 1
All details and rules, as well as the schedule, are below.