BRANTFORD— On the ice Brantford Airlink Bantam 1 hockey player Treyton General is all business and his tenacious play has earned him the nickname ‘Bulldog.’
General’s solid play was noticed as he was selected on Sunday, January 5th as player of the game following a tough to swallow 3-0 Walter Gretzky House League Tournament Bantam 1 championship loss against the Kitchener Vipers.
Following the loss, coach James Barnes had heavy praise for all his players which included talented three Six Nations players in Alex Whitlow, Kierin Martin and General.
Starting with General, Coach Barnes stated, “Treyton is very determined on the ice and has really improved. We call him bulldog.”
Meanwhile when it came to Martin, Barnes replied, “She never gives up. She’s the smartest and toughest player.” The coach wasn’t at a loss for words when discussing Whitlow as he stated, “Alex is tough on the puck. He never gives up and he has improved tremendously.”
Facing that ultimate challenge of playing Kitchener for tournament Bantam gold, Brantford was getting some stellar goaltending along with quality second period chances but still found themselves in a scoreless battle entering the third period.
“We worked as a team and passed a lot and never gave up,” Martin said. In terms of winning silver Martin said, “I’m happy that we placed. I’m bumbed it wasn’t first but this feels pretty good.”
Playing a strong game on defense was Whitlow who blocked a couple of Kitchener shots and made some quality passes while clearing out the crease.
“I think we did pretty well,” Whitlow said. “I would have liked to have won gold but at lease we didn’t get bronze. In terms of what they did well Whitlow replied, “We passed well. I liked creating friendships.”
Early in the third Kitchener grabbed momentum as they scored the game’s first goal.
Brantford goalie Mason Coleman continued to shine as he made some ten bell saves while the offence once again had some quality chances including Taylor Barnes and Felix Bicz who missed from in close.
With under five minutes remaining Kitchener scored a huge insurance goal before capping things off shortly afterwards with a breakaway goal before eventually celebrating tournament gold.
“It was fun,” General said about playing in the tournament. Though he would have obviously preferred gold, he described the experience of winning silver as “good.”
Coach Barnes also had praise for not only his players but also their opponents from Kitchener.
“We never gave up but Kitchener brought it 110%. Our team worked right to the final buzzer and they (Kitchener) are a great team.”
