Up to 36 regular season games are played against some of the toughest competition around in order for teams to potentially win the coveted Kraft Cup. Since 2008, the Kraft Cup has been awarded to teams who hold the best regular season record in their division. This season, the GTHL will be celebrating all 43 winning teams at the inaugural Kraft Cup Celebration on Sunday, February 26. Here’s how players and coaches feel about being awarded with one of the hardest championships to win.

“I believe a factor in helping us win is our team chemistry.  We have been together for several years and we are team of friends on and off the ice. I believe friendship is important in helping a team achieve success.”
– Adam Smeeton, North York Knights Minor Atom AA

“Every player brings a unique contribution to the team. Every player on this team enjoys coming to the rink, whether it be for games, practices or social events. And every type of contribution is both acknowledged and celebrated.  Winning the Kraft Cup, and doing so undefeated in regular season, is a huge accomplishment for our players.”
– Michael Saini, Head Coach, Ted Reeve Thunder Minor Bantam AA

“At the start of this season our coach gave us two goals.  One of them was winning the Kraft Cup, which I’m proud to say we accomplished. Now we will move on to accomplish the second goal – winning cities.”
– Jacob Moreira, Mississauga Jets Minor Midget AA

“The origin of this team’s success was having all 15 players from North Toronto’s Minor Atom A team return to compete as the Atom A team this year. The team consists of an incredibly committed group of kids that care about team’s success and about each other. I am particularly proud of this group. I’ve never coached better players nor have I known better kids.”
– Michael Dymond, Head Coach, North Toronto Atom A

“We are very excited that we won the Kraft Cup two years in a row, it’s always our first goal of the season. Our team has had so much success because we have fun on and off the ice and when it comes to game time we are always ready to play for each other.”
– Landon Cato, Ted Reeve Thunder Minor Bantam AA

“The Leaside Flames Minor Peewee A Assistant Coach John MacBain once said during a pre-game talk, ‘I’ve coached over 800 hundred GTHL games and I’ve never had a team win the Kraft Cup.’ I think it speaks highly of the incredible competition over the years, the enduring standard excellence of the GTHL organization and his dedication.”
– John Lorimer, Manager, Leaside Flames Minor Peewee A

“By trying our hardest and working together as a team is what made us get to first place.  There was one team that we had to beat and we were able to play our hardest, beat them for the first time this season and won. I’m very excited to be a Kraft Cup winner!”
– Jack Easton, Leaside Flames Minor Peewee A