Peterborough U16 AAA Petes Overcome Triple Overtime to Win OMHA Championship

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It took six periods for a goal but it was the biggest one for the Peterborough Elite Court Sports U16 AAA Petes of the season.

The team won 1-0 against the Southern Tier Admirals in triple overtime in the Ontario Minor Hockey Association (OMHA) championship at the Joshua Creek Arena in Oakville on Sunday night.

Photo courtesy of the U16 Peterborough Petes.

Kaiden Harmon of the Petes scored the walk-off championship goal on the powerplay with assists from Josh Avery and Ben Radley with seven minutes left of the third overtime period.

Both teams showed extremely high discipline throughout the game as Peterborough only had one minor penalty to The Admirals’s two.

The Petes found themselves in familiar territory back on Jan. 22. They lost 1-0 in the finals of the Steve Richey tournament coughing up a late third-period goal to the AAA U16 Central Ontario Wolves. It was their only loss in the tournament but found themselves on the winning side for the OHMA championship.

Peterborough was undefeated again entering the finals of the weekend three-day tournament. They had a 2-0-1 record in the round-robin before winning two straight playoff games for the title

They did not let history repeat itself as their first game saw them get revenge against the Wolves, coasting to a 4-1 win on Friday morning.

Later that evening, they played the Admirals to a 1-1 draw with the Petes allowing a third-period goal 23 seconds in from Tyler Bolton.

Peterborough’s only Saturday game resulted in a 3-2 comeback win over the U16 Hamilton Jr. Bulldogs. Bolton scored in the first for a 1-0 but the Petes found themselves trailing into the third 2-1. Wil McFadden took over for Peterborough, scoring on the power play and then again with last-second heroics with 10 ticks to go for the 3-2 win.

The Petes’ first playoff game was a 4-0 rout of the York Simcoe Express as Harmon had two goals in the game while Cohen Bidgood and Kayden Bueller each found the back of the net.

It was their only game of the day but the win propelled the team to the finals.

The Petes have their sights set on the 2023 OHL Cup Showcase Tournament that features the top 20 U16 AAA teams from Ontario and the United States. Peterborough qualified after winning the OMHA playoff semifinal game.

The event runs from March 28 to April 3, with all games being played at the Scotiabank Pond in Toronto. The Championship Final is being played at the Mattamy Athletic Centre on the final day in Toronto.

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