The Rochester '96 Amerks captured the consolation championship prize at the Ronald McDonald Summer AAA tournament with a thrilling 4-3 shootout win over Toronto's Red Army squad on June 12. Rebounding from an early 7-2 loss to Pro Hockey Toronto and a heart-breaking 6-5 defeat to New England's USA Mission, the Amerks (9 and under) reeled off four straight wins against top summer select squads. Rochester topped the Ottawa Valley Selects 4-2 in their final preliminary round game before making a Sunday run through the consolation bracket. In Sunday morning's quarterfinal, a later Rochester goal with 25 seconds remaining forced overtime before the Amerks tallied 15 seconds into OT to stun the Connecticut Yankees, 5-4. On the ice again 3 hours later, Rochester rallied from a 3-1 third-period deficit and shocked Toronto's World Class Allstars 4-3 in a sudden-death, 8-man shootout (2-1). Repeating their semifinal heroics in the championship game June 12, the Rochester squad again erased a 3-1 deficit and survived the five-minute overtime before scoring the winner in a sudden-death 7-man shootout (3-2). The 18-team tournament drew top '96 born select AAA teams from Montreal, Toronto, Ottawa, Boston, St. Louis, Florida, Vancouver, Southern Ontario, Alabama and Connecticut. The Squirt Minor AAA Amerks travel next to Boston in late August to kick off their 2005-06 winter tournament season. Westsiders Ryan Cosgrove of Churchville and Connor Hoyng of North Chili are team members. |
