Midnight Express after winning the Bauer Clash of the Titans
They say the third time is the charm and that was definitely the case for the Midnight Express this past weekend. The Express (ranked #2 in the ballhockey.com Top 25 Ball Hockey Teams in North America) beat the Toronto Orangemen (ranked #10) 7-2 to win the 2016 Bauer Clash of the Titans.
Toronto Orangemen after finishing 2nd in the Bauer Clash of the Titans
The tournament saw 14 of the best teams in North America compete for $14,000 in cash prizes. Over $11,000 of that was up for grabs in the championship final that took place Sunday at the ballhockey.com Athletic Centre in St. Catharines. The Clash of the Titans is recognized as one of the most competitive ball hockey tournaments in the world after its 4th year being played. This year teams travelled in from Pittsburgh, Ottawa, Leominster, Toronto, Barrie, Richmond Hill, Niagara and Welland.
As the dust began to settle on Sunday afternoon the quarter finals saw Midnight Express take on the Pittsburgh Gods and Toronto Orangemen take on the Niagara Rebels. Both games were worth watching with teams giving their all in end to end battles.
The final game between the Midnight Express and Toronto Orangemen was a lopsided affair. The Offensive of the Express proved to much with goals coming from Matt Tremblantt, Dayton Sopha, JC Gill (x2), JK Gill (x2) & Anthony Loveless. The Orangemen goals were scored by Danny Pacheco & Dylan Steele.
Two noticeable absences from the event were the Montreal Red Lite (Ranked #1) & Boston Saints (Ranked #3) but hopes are high that they can participate in the 2017 event taking place December 1-3, 2017. It is expected that the event will again be taking place in St. Catharines but confirmation will come at the end of February 2017.
The Midnight Express' winning team was: Frank D’Ambrosio, Sandeep Dhaliwal, Dave Digiornimo, Gurjeet Gill, Jaisen Gill, JC Gill, JK Gill, Shawn Hannon, Bobby Housser, Nicholas Laboni, Anthony Loveless, Marcel Mallais, Tyler McPherson, James Metis, Toby Monteiro, Fred Perrera, Mike Porter, Jacob Robitaille, Dayton Sopha, Matt Tremblatt, Chris Vegenas & Ben Vantullo (G).
You can watch the championship game in its entirely thanks to our partner WeeStreem who covered all the playoff games on Sunday providing live HD video streaming online!