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Three players from Fairfield County found the net for the New York Pee Wee Rangers in their recent world championship victory in Quebec. Jack Badini and Bobby Goggin of Greenwich and Jack Hoey of Fairfield pushed the Rangers to a 4-2 win over the Detroit Red Wings before some 10,000 fans in Elite Division of the Quebec International Pee-Wee Hockey Tournament.
The highly regarded tournament that has featured such future stars as Wayne Gretzky, Eric Lindros and Sidney Crosby groups 12 and 13-year-old players from 16 countries.
Sponsored by the New York Rangers, the team was coached by Doug Messier, father of Rangers' legend Mark Messier. The roster included top players picked from the tri-state region. During the 10-day tournament, the Rangers played a combination of 12 exhibition and tournament games against some of the most formidable opponents in the world, including Chomutov (Czech Republic), Halton Hurricanes (Ontario), Pee Wee St. Louis Blues (top-ranked team in the U.S.) and the Quebec Remparts. In tournament play, they faced the Los Angeles Junior Kings, the Amherst Knights and the Pee Wee New Jersey Devils before defeating the Moscow Red Army 2-1 in the semi-finals to send them to the championship game.
Other Fairfield County members of the Pee Wee Rangers squad were Jack Flanagan, Thomas Dale and Jamie Swiggett of Darien; Billy Overby and Drew Speckman of Fairfield, and Nick VanBelle of Stamford.
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