THUNDER BAY -- If you basically run the table at a provincial championship, you probably deserve to hoist the trophy at the end.
The Markham Majors on Sunday night blanked the Nickel City Sons 5-0, a team coming off an exhausting 2-1, double-overtime semifinal win over the day,
Massimo Tomassi stopped all 20 Nickel City shots and Antonio Schiavo scored twice to deliver the first All-Ontario U13 AAA championship in team history, the team pouring on the ice as the clock hit zero to celebrate and share joyous hugs of accomplishment after winning for the seventh time in eight games at the provincial championship.
"It's a great accomplishment. We played as a team and won it. This was our goal from the beginning of the year and we did it," Schiavo said, his teammates taking turns hoisting the trophy and taking pictures with family and other players on the Majors.
"We were fired up and we were getting out there. We scored a couple of goals quick and eventually got up 5-0 and won it."
There's no question the Majors were the team to beat at Fort William Gardens, site of this year's championship.
In eight games they scored 45 goals, 13 more than the next closest team, and only allowed 12. The Sun County Panthers, who lost to the host Thunder Bay Kings 3-1 in Sunday's bronze-medal match, allowed 19 in eight contests.
Towering forward Justin Boudreau, said the key to the Majors success was simple.
"I think we played really well and we played until the end," said Boudreau, who like several of his teammates, has NHL dreams in his sights.
It was Schiavo who struck first for Markham, grabbing a rebound on the doorstep of Nicolas Rocca's crease and burying it five-hole, the goal coming just 69 seconds into the game.
Joseph Fenwick doubled the lead at the 5:36 mark of the first, a wide-open one-timer catching Rocca out of position, and the Majors took a 2-0 lead to the second.
Schiavo scored his second of the night with less than four minutes to go in the second, his shot through traffic maneuvering its way to the back of the Nickel City net, the Sudbury side down 3-0 and the game quickly falling out of reach.
Cam Johnson and Jaxson Staley rounded out the scoring in the third.
"This is massive for the organization. It's the first All-Ontarios for the organizations, so it's a massive accomplishment," said Markham coach Kevin Cribari, who led the Majors to a Greater Toronto Hockey League championship, no mean feat in itself, he said.
"Even to get out of our league, the GTHL, it's a very competitive league so to accomplish that and move onto this, it's remarkable," Cribari said.
