What an eye-opener it was to see the Axxis Optical U12 boys’ Blazers bring home gold medals for the second year in a row at the Ottawa International Ice Breaker Tournament, held on May 30 and 31. The Blazers began the two-day tournament with a 2–1 win against last year’s rivals, the Gloucester Hornets. The second game saw the Blazers defeat the Delta Dragons 1–0. Taking the field for the third time, the boys met the Cataraqui Clippers and won with a final score of 1–0. Even though they won all their games, the Axxis Optical Blazers placed second in their pool and ended up meeting another second-place team, the Mont-Royal Outremont. The game was a very physical one and the Blazers were handed their first and last loss of the weekend. The game ended 1–0 after a corner-kick fumble found the net in the last five minutes of the game. An out-of-the-box goalie error minutes before the whistle blew meant that our goalie Guy Giroux was out for the next two games on Sunday. Our backup goalie Médéric DeRepentigny was up to the job and helped the team win early-morning games on Sunday against Peterborough City 4–0 then against the Gloucester Hornets 2–0. These two wins brought the team back on the A pool of the tournament. For our third game on Sunday the Blazers met the Delta Dragons for the second time in the weekend. Despite outshooting the Dragons 14 to 6 the Blazers were unable to score during regulation time and the game ended in a tie sending the teams into a shootout. Overcoming rain, wind and hail, the final outcome of the game was a 3–2 win for the Blazers. This brought us to a rematch with the Cataraqui Clippers but the final outcome was a 5–0 win for the Blazers. The following game would be a rematch with the Mont-Royal Outremont team. This was to be another very physical game, but even though being outshot by the Mont-Royal 7 to 2, the Blazers managed to find the back of the net in one of their shots. The outcome of the game was a 1–0 victory. This win sent the Axxis Optical Blazers to the gold-medal game. The tenth and last game of the weekend saw the Blazers meet the Pierrefond Cobras. Two minutes into the game the Blazers scored and managed to hold off the other team for the rest of the game and won gold with that single goal. Goals were scored during the weekend by Alex Douglas (5), Franco Caparelli (4), Brett Ouderkirk (4), Joshua Watters (3), and singles were recorded by Grant Hebert, Mathieu Brousseau, Tyler Akins and Médéric DeRepentigny. Tournament goaltending duties were shared by Guy Giroux and Médéric DeRepentigny. Without the speed and agility its defensive team composed of Mathieu Brousseau, Samuel Cardinal, Reeve Nicholson, and Maxime Gagnon-Goyette the task of the defending the net would have been that much more difficult. We cannot ignore the offensive line composed of Kaelan Leroux, Brandon Laperle, Alex Douglas, Tyler Akins, Joshua Watters, Franco Caparelli, Grant Hebert and Brett Ouderkirk who worked together and played a strong passing game all weekend.