Bantam Hounds win NOBHL championship

The Soo Bantam Greyhounds are champions of the Northern Ontario Bantam Hockey League.

Completing a miraculous season of league play, the Hounds swept Sudbury Lockerby Confectionery 3-0 in the league championship after a series clinching 4-3 win on Saturday afternoon in Sudbury.

The Hounds will now get a two week rest before suiting up for the Ontario AAA Bantam Hockey Championships Mar.28-Apr.2 at the Fort William Gardens in Thunder Bay.

On Saturday, the Hounds survived a third period comeback attempt by the home side.

Mike Rivard scored 46 seconds into the game to give the Hounds a 1-0 lead after one period.

In the second period, Craig Laliberte tied the game for Sudbury at the 3:19 mark before Luke O'Brien replied just 19 seconds later to give the Hounds a lead they would not relinquish. Jarrett Burton scored at 6:59 for a 3-1 Soo lead.

Sudbury would quit in the third period as Calum McLeod scored at 7:56 to pull his club back to within a goal. But sniper Dean Howard sealed the Greyhounds win with a goal with 4:46 remaining.

P.J. Taus scored Sudbury's final goal with 25 seconds left on the clock.

Greg McAllister recorded the win in goal for the Greyhounds while Tyler Liukkonen recorded two assists and O'Brien one.

The Bantam Hounds dominated the NOBHL all season. The locals skated to a 32-1-1 record in the regular season and set 17 new league records in the process.

In the playoffs, the Greyhounds received a first round bye before sweeping the North Bay Athletics in the semi-finals.

In the league championship series, the Greyhounds opened the first two games last weekend at home with a 5-2 win in game one before scoring a 2-1 overtime victory in game two with Howard again scoring the winner.