Bantam Hounds cruise to Steel City title (Photos added)

The Soo Bantam Greyhounds are champions again.

The Bantam Hounds have set their sights high this season, and judging by their success thus far, nothing is going to stand in their way.

The Bantam Hounds capped off a clean sweep on Sunday by beating the Motor City Jr. Chiefs 5-1 in the Major Bantam AAA finals of the 24th Annual Steel City International Hockey Tournament at the John Rhodes Community Centre.

The Bantam Hounds went undefeated at 6-0 in the tournament and outscored their opponents 37-2 in the process.

The game saw the Bantam Hounds put together a strong defensive effort, giving up under 10 shots in the game.

The first period saw the team get off to a bit of a slow start as was the case the previous night when they beat the same Motor City club 7-1 in the final round robin outing for each club.

With the game still scoreless, Jarrett Burton got the locals on the board with three minutes remaining in the opening frame when he beat Motor City goaltender Kyle Washer, who put together a strong effort in the game.

In the second period, the Bantam Hounds picked up their play even more and peppered new Chiefs goaltender Josh LaBarge, who came in at the start of the period in relief of Washer.

Just 21 seconds into the second frame, Dean Howard, who had a strong day offensively for the Bantam Hounds, scored the first of what would be a three goal performance for the forward.

Just over six minutes later, Howard picked up his second goal of the game. The goal came just moments after Anthony Colizza was robbed point-blank by LaBarge. Howard had an opportunity later in the period to increase the lead to 4-0 but he hit the crossbar.

Moments after that, Kyle Jean officially made the score 4-0 with just over three minutes remaining in the second period.

Motor City had one of their best scoring chances of the game later in the period as Petrus Sipila beat Bantam Hounds goaltender Greg McAllister but rang his shot off the crossbar.

Howard capped off the hat-trick midway through the third period to put the Bantam Hounds ahead 5-0.

The Chiefs did gain somewhat of a moral victory later in the period when Doug Lendensmith broke McAllister's shutout bid with just over five minutes remaining in the game as he knocked a rebound past McAllister.

The goaltending for Motor City was solid as both LaBarge and Washer were strong despite the loss.

Bantam Hounds head coach Domenic Deluca was pleased with his team's effort saying that they got off to a slow start. He was also extremely pleased with the defensive play of his club.

"We moved the puck pretty well today," Deluca said. "It was tough to get the players pumped up for the game.

"We pride ourselves defensively, Deluca continued. "We have six strong defencemen and two solid goaltenders. We stress a lot of puck movement and that's where (the solid defensive play) comes from."

Much like the previous night, Deluca praised the makeup of his team calling them a "great group of kids. It's like I have eighteen kids of my own. We're like a family."

The new goal for the Bantam Hounds, according to Deluca is to win the All-Ontario's which is also something that he feels is within the reach of the team, provided they stay focused on the task at hand.

With the Steel City now wrapped up, the Bantam Hounds now have their sights set on regular season play in the Northern Ontario AAA Bantam League as they return to action on Jan. 15 and 16 with a pair of home dates.

The team will take on Sudbury Lockerby Confectionary on home ice at the Rankin arena. Game times will be 1 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. on Saturday and 10:30 a.m. on Sunday morning.