Hilltop Variety Blades compete in McDonald's Tourney

The Hilltop Variety Blades finished with a record of 2-2 on the weekend as the local Bantam AAA team took part in the Ronald McDonald Tournament down in Toronto.

The Blades opened up with a 6-4 loss to a U.S. All-Star team made up of players from Texas, Colorado and Arizona.

The Blades rebounded in their next game by upsetting the St. Michael’s Buzzers 3-2 and then routed a team from the Brantford-Hamilton area 7-1.

The Blades only needed a tie in their final round robin game to make it into the next round of the tournament. However, the Milford Blues from Connecticut played the role of spoiler scoring a last minute goal to defeat the Blades 4-3.

It was a disappointing loss, but head coach Mark Kosturik felt it was a successful weekend.

"It was very interesting and I'm pleasantly surprised and to be one goal away from going on (to the playoff round) was pretty neat,” said Kosturik.

Kosturik added that the goaltending of Patrick Rochefort and Tanner Davis was solid all tournament long.

The Hilltop Variety Blades will be heading to another Toronto area tournament on June 23rd when the team will bring a different group of players to that event.

The Blades organization is using the tournament action as a way to judge talent when building the official team roster in the fall.