Congratulations to the Team Manitoba Male Under-17 squad that captured silver at the 2007 Canada Winter Games in Whitehorse! The boys team put in a very scrappy performance against Ontario in the Gold Medal final on Friday night but were ultimately defeated 6-4. A copy of the complete game summary can be found here.

The silver medal marks Manitoba’s highest performance ever in Male Hockey at the Games. It is also the province’s first medal since capturing Bronze in 1991.

Ontario opened the scoring a mere 18 seconds into action when Cody Hodgson burried the puck past Mark Friesen. Nazem Kadri would add to that lead two minutes later to make the score 2-0.

Like they had done all tournament, Manitoba battled their way back from a two-goal deficit. Brandon’s Shayne Wiebe and Winnipeg’s Tyler Schmidt scored goals three minutes apart midway through the first to even the score.

The tie would not last long as Steve Stamkos, Ontario’s leading scorer throughout the tournament, beat Friesen with a powerplay marker to restore his team’s lead.

In the second, the teams would trade goals twice with Nathan Moon and Michael Del Zotto scoring for Ontario and Winnipeg’s David Toews scoring twice for Manitoba as Ontario carried a 5-4 lead into the final frame.

Despite their best efforts, Manitoba was unable to score the equalizer in the third and Ontario’s Stefan Della Rovere added an insurance marker midway through the frame forcing the boys from Manitoba to settle for second.

Overall, Team Manitoba’s performance was one the players should be very proud of, securing their highest finish ever as well as winning over the support of all spectators with their gritty, tireless performance.

Complete coverage of the Male hockey portion of the Canada Winter Games can be found here or by visiting the official Canada Winter Games site at www.2007canadagames.ca.