Reality check for Peewee AAA's in Toronto

North Bay’s Spring Peewee AAA travel team got a chance to play some of the best team’s on the continent in their age category on the weekend. The Peewee AAA’s coached by Randy Edmonds finished with a 0-4 record at the McDonald’s Tournament down in Toronto on the weekend.

The locals started strong dropping a 3-1 decision to Toronto Lakeshore. They also lost 7-1 to another Toronto club and then 9-1 to a U.S. All Star team and finished the tournament with a 9-0 loss at the hands of a team from the Windsor/London area.

Edmonds, who started the spring travel team this year knew his club would be in for a challenge because with no ice available in June, his club hadn’t been on the ice since May.

“We learned a lot this weekend and we have gone three weeks without ice prior to the tourney so our expectations were not very high,” said Edmonds who hopes the city will make the ice available in June next year.

Edmonds was surprised to see all the former NHLers that were running programs like his.

“The interesting thing is Warren Rychel (Colorado Stanley Cup winner and Windsor Spitfire owner) coached one team as did Al Mcinnis (St.Louis Blues) and former Maple Leaf forward Steve Thomas. They all talked about spring and summer hockey and how much fun it was,” said Edmonds.

While it was a tough weekend on the scoreboard for the local Peewee AAA squad, Edmonds still feels it was a tremendous learning experience for his local players.

“This past weekend was more valuable for their development than all of the regular season games they played all season,” said Edmonds.

The Peewee AAA team will wrap up its spring season with another tournament down in Toronto on June 24th – 25th.