U9A King Rebellion win York Simcoe Minor Hockey Championship

U9 A King Rebellion (top) won the York Simcoe Minor Hockey Championships.

By Robert Belardi

The U9 A King Rebellion were crowned champions of York Simcoe Minor Hockey in the last weekend of March.
It was quite an exceptional tournament for these young boys. The Rebellion, never lost a game in this tournament, earning their third victory in tournament play this year.
With opening victories 3-2 against East Gwillimbury, 5-2 against Bradford and 7-0 against Barrie, the semifinals were a true test up against a good Orillia team.
Tied 2-2, the game went to shootout and the Rebellion booked their ticket into the finals with a 6-4 shootout win.
Having opened the tournament against East Gwillimbury, the two teams took each other on once again the finals. The Rebellion defeated East Gwillimbury 2-0.
Recapping the tournament, head coach of the team Steve Mignardi, said the most satisfying thing out of all of this, was coaching this group of players.
“For me personally, I would say, this is the most satisfying thing I've ever done,” Mignardi said.
“I think for all of the coaches. Not just because we won. But just for the development of the kids, the good and bad experiences that we've had. Other than having my kids and getting married, this is incredible. I didn't realize that I would get such a love for all of the kids on that level.”
Along with Mignardi, assistant coaches on the team were Steve Brown and Paolo Sacilotto. The trainer of the team is Peter Paris and the one managing the group, was manager Sonia Mignardi.
On the ice, goaltenders Alexander Dimitriou and Luca Pupo held it together between the pipes.
On the back end, Matteo Paris, David Filippo, Brayden Brown, Grayson Winhall and Giordano Bisogno protected the goaltenders and contributed offensively.
And the boys up front, helping lead the Rebellion on the scoresheet were Luca Gorniak, Giuliano Bartella, Simon Samaroo, Dante McCague, Stefano Mignardi, Mason Macri, Christian Farro, James Sacilotto, Max Giannone and Rocco McCague.