The Houston Jr. Aeros Midget Minor “A” Team won their division in the Southern Regional Silver Sticks Tournament held in Dallas, Texas December 26-30. By virtue of winning their division, the Jr. Aeros now travel to Toronto, Ontario, Canada for the North American Finals.

The Jr. Aeros are a Midget Minor team (ages 15 & 16) and play at the “A” level, although the tournament included both “A” and “AA” teams. They competed in a 4 game round robin match, with the top 4 teams making the playoffs. In the round robin portion, the Aeros went 1 win, 1 loss, and
In their first game, they played to a 2-2 tie against the Dallas Penguins, a “AA” team. In the second game, the Aeros had a major letdown and lost to the Texas Aces 5-2. The next day however, they came roaring back to defeat the Duncanville Dragons, another “AA” team, 6-1. Going into the last game, the Aeros had to win, or tie, the Dallas Titans to qualify for the playoffs. The Titans faced the same situation. The game ended in a 2-2 tie and both teams qualified for the playoffs, and the Aces went home.

The semi-final game was a rematch against the Dragons, with the Aeros coming out on top 5-2 setting up a championship game vs the Dallas Titans. The championship game was a hard hitting affair but ended in a scoreless tie. The teams then played 4 on 4 in a 5 minute sudden death overtime period and again neither team could score a goal. They then played 3 on 3 and the Aeros scored the victorious goal 2:32 into the 2nd over time period.

Members pictured are:

Front row: Casey Durchulz, Jonathon Gleinser
2nd row: Eugene Chung, Jeff McVaney, Thomas McVaney, Josh Marsh, Matt Gonzales, Stephen Brasset, Eric Hahn, Asst Coach Ted Haskell, Steven Grillo, Bud Pruse, Evan Beasley, Head Coach Gene Pruse
3rd Row: Asst Coach Chris Gleinser, Mike Snyder, Michael Miller, Gavin Kerr, Adam Rice, Stevie Haskell