Memorable Matchups: OMHA U15 AA Boys Championship Game
Throughout the summer we will be taking a look back at some of the memorable matchups from the 2024-25 North American hockey season. If you have a game for us to consider, please send all of the details to scott@myhockeyrankings.com.
More info on submissions at the bottom of the page.
It’s easy for sports enthusiasts to get caught up in the emotion and excitement of a game and anoint a team, performance or moment as the “greatest” they’ve ever seen.
Recency bias is real and occurs with regularity in this world we currently live in as generating views, clicks and engagement seem to be the driving forces behind so much of what we see and read in 2025.
What’s much more challenging is to let the emotion drift away, sit back and reflect after the fact on a career, a year, a season, a decade or a century and determine which athletic competitions or achievements truly stand the test of time. We found that out firsthand last year as we took our first stab at acknowledging the top five Games of the Year for 2023-24.
Fortunately. we didn’t get a million submissions, and the ones we received all were special and worthy of being considered. Unfortunately, listing the top five in some sort of representative order proved to be incredibly difficult.
But we did it and stand by the list we created and our Game of the Year selection.
Thankfully, we got zero complaints from anyone involved, probably because being included among the top five amateur hockey games for a given year when we rank more than 20,000 teams annually is quite an accomplishment whether you end up at No. 1 or No. 5. Heck, ranking among the top 100 games for a given season would be a tremendous achievement.
Throughout the process we learned that what makes a game special can be extremely subjective. Sure, it’s easy to highlight an amazing comeback victory, a nail-biting championship contest that requires multiple overtimes or a shootout to determine a winner, a physical rivalry game with a dramatic ending, a huge upset, a contest featuring an unbelievable goaltending performance or game in which one team overcomes a series of injuries to pull off an unthinkable victory.
Those types of contests are easy to find and certainly are worthy of consideration. And all of them are special or “great” on their own merit.
But what about all the other games that are played and feature incredible individual performances or players, coaches and teams overcoming obstacles or adversity that we really have no way of knowing about or understanding?
If we rank 25,000 teams for a given season, and each of those teams must play at least 10 games to be ranked, that’s a crazy number of games to begin with. And we all know that most teams schedule way more than 10 games, with some playing as many as 80.
So, while us attempting to come up with a list of the top games for a season may be considered admirable or asinine, depending on who you ask – and while it certainly provides interesting content for North American hockey fans during the dog days of the offseason – any attempt to do so really is futile. Some might even call it “clickbait” or “engagement farming.”
It may be relatively easy to come up with a list of memorable games that would pass the eye test to be considered on any list of top or “great” games, but the idea of determining an accurate or legitimate list of the top five, 10, 100 or 1,000 games when there are so many to choose from is preposterous.
Any real attempt to do so would require thousands of submissions and an army of staff members to study each nominated contest, interview participants and spectators and watch video of the games. The process of narrowing the entries for one season down to a manageable number would take much longer than one offseason, and that’s before the inevitable debate that would be required to come up with the final list.
As you might have inferred at this point, we talked ourselves out of attempting to create another list of the top games from the 2024-25 season. But that doesn’t mean we can’t highlight some of the ones that were especially memorable for some of our members, followers or random hockey fans scattered around the continent.
And that’s just what we’re going to do.
Starting with this first recap below, we are going to take a look at some of the special games that occurred during the 2024-25 campaign and attempt to paint a picture of why they were so memorable for the players, coaches and spectators involved. For anyone who has a game they’d like us to consider, submission guidelines and requirements can be found at both the beginning and end of this article.
MHR Memorable Matchups 2024-25
Ontario Boys U15 AA - OMHA Championship Game
#13 Milton Winterhawks (4), #31 Flamborough Sabres (3) – 3OT/SO
March 30, 2025 – Whitby, Ontario
Iroquois Park Sports Centre
CLICK HERE TO VIEW MOST OF THE GAME
CLICK HERE TO VIEW THE OTS & SHOOTOUT
Whether it’s the men or women playing, the United States and Canada are the two most-heated rivals on the international ice hockey circuit. The two nations have met countless times over the years in games that rarely are decided by more than a single goal and often require overtime or a shootout.
But the battles we remember most are the ones that decided a championship. It doesn’t matter if it’s an Olympic medal, a world championship or a big trophy that’s at stake, those are the matchups that stand out and live in our memories forever – no matter how amazing some of the other contests might have been.
Well, that’s the situation we had for this U15 AA battle as a pair of Ontario league rivals – the Milton Winterhawks and Flamborough Sabres – met for the Ontario Minor Hockey Association championship March 30.
Predictably, the energy and intensity were at unmatched levels for this contest, and just as predictably, it took three extra periods and a shootout to determine the winner. The game featured six different goal-scorers and a furious three-goal comeback by the Winterhawks after Flamborough had sprinted to a 3-0 first-period lead.
That’s right, after Blake Rodrigues, Michael Aiello and Kane Reid tallied in a four-minute span of the opening frame, Milton’s Jack Smith and Liam Baragwanath responded with a pair of second-period goals about three minutes apart to cut the Sabres’ lead to a single goal entering the final period.
The excitement and drama built throughout the third period, and Flamborough appeared poised to capture the championship until Frankie Carpino scored to force overtime with 3:57 remaining in regulation.
After Carpino’s clutch goal, nervous friends, family and other supporters on hand would have to wait a while for the outcome to be determined. And wait. And wait. They rode an emotional rollercoaster through three extra sessions and finally a shootout before a champion was crowned.
And as clutch as Carpino was in knotting the contest late in the third period, he was outdone for most of the game by the player he beat to tie the contest. Flamborough goaltender Hiio Squire stood tall throughout regulation and continued his stellar performance through the overtimes, ultimately making 56 saves to give his teammates an opportunity to pull off the unlikely win despite being outshot, 59-33.
Alas, Squire’s counterpart in goal, Jacob Johnston, who also turned in a strong performance with 30 saves, was a little bit better in the shootout and lifted his team to the title. Smith and Humayd Ahmedani each snuck pucks past Squire for Milton during the shootout, while Chance Spencer was the only Sabre who managed to beat Johnston.
Spencer also assisted on Reid’s first-period goal, while Aiello picked up a helper on that tally to go along with his opening-period maker. In addition to his huge shootout goal, Ahmedani also assisted on Carpino’s tying goal along with Drake Sparks-Austin. Carter Law and Matthew Handy each added single assists for Flamborough, with Benjamin David Glaessel, Tristian Villaverde, Owen Chase and Liam McGraw notching the Winterhawks’ other helpers.
What a Wild Ride it Was
While the final result was heartbreaking for the Sabres, their Cinderella run to the OMHA finals that nearly culminated in an OMHA championship was a storyline only a Disney scriptwriter could create.
Flamborough concluded the regular season in the Tri-County Minor Hockey League with a record of 11-9-6, good for seventh place, and concluded its season ranked No. 31 in Ontario at 28-26-14 overall, according to MYHockey Rankings. Meanwhile, Milton went 15-6-5 in league play and finished ranked 13th with an overall record of 51-21-10, outscoring its opponents by 99 goals along the way.
The two teams met seven times during the season, with Milton posting a 4-2-1 record in those contests and outscoring the Sabres by just a 16-14 margin.
Both teams entered the league playoffs with high hopes, but the Winterhawks immediately lived up to their expectations as Flamborough faltered. The Sabres dropped their first three playoff games, while Milton sprinted out of the gates with three straight victories.
The outlook appeared bleak for Flamborough at that moment, but the Sabres dug deep and beat the Garden City Falcons, 3-1, Feb. 10. The hope that victory provided was put on hold, however, with a 3-1 loss to the No. 43 Oakville Rangers Feb. 13.
As it appeared the season was slipping away, Flamborough rallied to win six straight games, capping that run with a 4-1 victory over their rivals from Milton March 2. The streak included a 3-2 comeback win in a game they had trailed 2-0 against the Guelph Gryphons and a thrilling 1-0 victory against Garden City in which the game-winning goal was scored late in the third period.
Despite the 4-1 setback against the Sabres, the Winterhawks concluded pool play at 8-2-1 and finished atop Pool B. Flamborough went 7-5-0 and earned a spot in the quarterfinals as the fourth seed from the same pool.
The road would not get easier for the Sabres from there, however, as a wild quarterfinal matchup against the 34th-ranked Glancaster Bombers awaited.
Flamborough trailed Glancaster, 3-0, with less than a minute remaining in the second period. A very late goal in the middle frame pulled the Sabres to within a goal heading into the final frame, and they scored twice in a span of 17 seconds to tie the game at 3 with 11 minutes remaining. A power-play goal put the Bombers back in front, 4-3, with about four minutes left, but Flamborough evened the score once again and forced overtime on a textbook 2-on-1 goal with just 2:45 showing on the clock.
A scoreless overtime period followed, sending the game to a shootout. Spencer scored on the third shot of the shootout and Cole Robertson kept the Sabres’ season alive and sent them on with a dramatic tally on the team’s fifth shot.
Meanwhile, Milton knocked off the No. 23 Niagara Falls Canucks, 2-0, thanks to a pair of power-play goals to earn a trip to the OMHA Championship tournament. That meant Flamborough had to play an Oakville Rangers club it hadn’t beaten in four previous meetings in an OMHA Championship qualifier.
After an opening period with no goals, the Sabres and Rangers traded tallies in the middle frame to set up a tense third period. The tension only increased as neither team could find the back of the net during the final stanza.
A scoreless overtime set up yet another dramatic shootout. And Spencer did it again, scoring on Flamborough’s first attempt while Squire completely shut the door on Oakville to send the Sabres to the OMHA Championship for the first time since 2019 at the U15 level.
At the OMHA Championship, Flamborough faced the 22nd-ranked Halton Hills Thunder, the No. 19 Whitby Wildcats and the 26th-ranked Markham Waxers, recording three consecutive ties. Flamborough needed to beat or tie Markham March 29 without earning any penalty minutes to advance to the semifinals out of Pool B.
Aiello’s slapshot goal late in the second period broke a scoreless tie, but the Waxers responded just 30 seconds later to even the game heading into the final frame. Somehow the teams skated to a scoreless tie in the third period without the Sabres picking up a single penalty, which allowed them to advance to the semifinals after many tie-breaking methods had been exhausted.
While all of that was happening, Milton recorded a comeback victory against the No. 44 Ajax-Pickering Raiders followed by a pair of ties vs. the ninth-ranked Barrie Colts and 16th-ranked South Simcoe Storm to place second in Pool B and join Flamborough in the semifinals.
It was the Sabres vs. No. 9 Barrie in one semi and the Winterhawks vs. No. 22 Halton Hills in the other.
Guess what happened in Flamborough’s matchup? That’s right. Overtime.
But this time no shootout was required as Liam Dudek’s low shot on the power play was deflected into the net by James Kostandoff a few minutes into the extra session, sending the Sabres to the championship game. Andrew Stevenson netted the other Flamborough goal in the 2-1 semifinal victory.
Milton also needed overtime to advance to the epic championship showdown after allowing Halton Hills to rally from a 2-0 second-period deficit with a pair of third-period goals. The Winterhawks scored in the waning seconds of overtime to set up the classic title-game matchup.
Early in the season – even after the regular season – no one could have guessed that Milton and Flamborough would meet for the OMHA U15 AA championship, but that’s exactly what happened.
And it turned out to be a classic showdown that no one from either side ever will forget.
If you have a game for us to consider, please send all of the details to scott@myhockeyrankings.com.
Please include:
- Date and location of the game
- Box score, scoring summary or link to the scoresheet
- Game details with full names and correct spellings
- What made this game so special (championship game, rivalry, amazing comeback, etc.)
- Any other important details that make the matchup interesting
- Video clips or links to the game or highlights
