Goulbourn Major Atom Boys 'AA' Team
  

2005 / 2006

Hornets Major Atom Boys Win Gold at Gloucester Tournament!

     During the weekend of March 3, 4 and 5th, the Goulbourn Hornets Major Atom Boys participated in the annual Gloucester tournament. The tournament consisted of 5 teams from Ottawa, Nepean, Gloucester and Kanata.

     The round robin portion of the tournament was extremely competitive with Gloucester going undefeated and Nepean and Kanata playing their best basketball of the year. Peter O’Hearn, while recovering from the flu, and Michael Dignam and Dalton King were instrumental in Goulbourn coming out of the round robin with a good ranking.

     In the semi-finals, Goulbourn played Nepean 1 and came out on top of that game 44-39. Keegan MacNeil lead the way offensively with the support of strong games from Josh Russell and Shaun Hudson.

     In the finals, Goulbourn met pre-tournament favourites Gloucester 1. In the end, Goulbourn prevailed 33 to 24. The teams played in front of a packed gym with the intensity of a college game. Goulbourn started off quickly building a 13-point lead and was able to maintain the lead against several major challenges by their opponents. Brandon Hodge and Emmanuel Kfowie were forces on defence shutting down the top Gloucester players and creating numerous turnovers. The most impressive part of the game was the almost flawless execution both offensively and defensively by players like Dalton White, Blair Stewart, Jason Bekkedam and Magnus Nowell.

     First year player in competitive basketball Emmanuel Kfowie was selected as the tournament MVP! Congratulations to Emmanuel, all the players and coaches Tom Hodge, Brian MacNeil, Mark Nowell and Herb O’Hearn for a very impressive win!

Silver Medal!
     The Goulbourn Major Atom AA Boy’s Basketball team won silver medal at a Peterborough Invitation tournament last weekend.

     The tone for the weekend was set in their first game, Friday evening against Belleville with Goulbourn winning 54 to 11. Most impressive with the win was that every Goulbourn player scored making it a truly team win. On Saturday, Goulbourn played a very competitive team from Whitby defeating them 50 to 30 and also defeated Nepean A – 58 to 27. Impressive play by Keegan MacNiel, Dalton King and Josh Russell lead the Goulbourn team to a perfect 3-0 record.

     In the semi-finals, Goulbourn faced local rival Nepean AA but Goulbourn’s team play lead to a solid victory defeating them 39 to 27. In the finals, Goulbourn faced pre-tournament favourites, Durham Bulldogs. In a keenly fought game, Goulbourn was up 24 to 21 at half time with Brandon Hodge and Emmanuelle Kwofie shutting down the two outstanding guards from Durham. In the end, Goulbourn’s foul shooting did them in hitting only 12 for 36 from the foul line. Durham went on to win 46 to 38.

     However the team, coaches and parents were ecstatic at winning silver as it was their first real test against very talented team for Toronto.

     Goulbourn Major Atom Boys continue their strong league play remaining in second place in the Eastern Ontario Basketball League with a 7-1 record.