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Powerhouse Medway falls one goal short of OFSAA history

The Medway girls hockey team’s pursuit of OFSAA history fell one goal short.

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The Medway girls hockey team’s pursuit of OFSAA history fell one goal short.

The top-seeded defending champs, aiming to become the first AAA program to claim three consecutive provincial titles, lost a tight-checking gold-medal final 2-1 to Centre Wellington of Fergus Friday afternoon in Midland.

“Coming in with two gold medals, that’s all a lot of these girls had seen before,” Cowboys coach Craig Watson said, “so for them to get a silver, the expectations were very high. Right now, we have to realize some of them are graduating with four medals — two golds, a silver and bronze — over the past four years and that’s a very impressive feat.”

Claire Flanagan scored Medway’s lone tally against Centre Wellington, which allowed just eight goals in six straight wins for top spot. The Cowboys surrendered only six markers along the way, but couldn’t come up with a late equalizer when they needed it most.

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“Their defence stood strong,” Watson said. “They kept us outside. For a team that, according to the scouting report, had so many shutouts this year, it’s nice to get the one goal on them. We just couldn’t quite find the back of the net to tie it up.”

Medway stands to lose seven talented Grade 12 players, but there is a lot of confidence the team will be back in the mix to pursue a fifth consecutive OFSAA medal and try to regain their crown.

“We’ll have to replace them,” Watson said, “but Medway seems to be able to draw that talent back. I know some of the schools in the city of London and elsewhere, their best players don’t play for their high school teams. I think it benefits them to play both and we have a great relationship with the coaches in the community who work to improve the girls’ skill level.

“We’d like to keep that going.”

Medway reached the championship game by defeating old rival Aurora St. Maximilian Kolbe 4-1 in the semifinal round early Friday.

rpyette@postmedia.com

Twitter.com/RyanatLFPress

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