FINAL DAY RECAP AT THE EASTERN CANADA CUP ALL STAR CHALLENGE
Game 1- OJHL Coffey and NOJHL- Group A.
Team Coffey moved to 2-2 and the NOJHL fell to 1-3 as the OJHL team won in dramatic fashion scoring two goals in the last two minutes+ to take a 4-3 decision. In the first half Team Coffey scored two goals just 31 seconds apart. Wellington's BEN EVANS had the first one assisted by the Patriots' Colton Kalezic then Toronto Junior Canadiens' defenceman BRAYDEN SAMPSON connected from the Blades' Thomas Maia and Zach Bramwell. Soo Eagles' NICK TECHEL got one back before the end of the period. In the second the NOJHL would go out in front by one as two more Eagles- CHRISTIAN BARDARSON and KOBE KELLER got the puck behind the Rangers' Jett Alexander. This set the stage for a final push from the Coffeys with the Voyageurs' ROB CLERC scoring at 17.34 from Bramwell and the Patriots' Ryan Wells. Twenty one seconds later they got the decider off the stick of THOMAS MAIA with Bramwell and Clerc picking up the helpers for the 4-3 victory.
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Game 2- OJHL Nieuwendyk and MHL- Group B.
Team Nieuwendyk picked up their sole win of the tournament beating the MHL, who finished at 1-3, by a 3-2 count in the first shootout game of the week. After a scoreless first period ANDREW PETRUCCI of the Toronto Patriots, the leading pointscorer in the OJHL, got them on the sheet, assisted by linemate Oliver Benwell (who ranks second). Then the Pickering Panthers' DAVIS TEIGEN-KATSUMI made it 2-0 assisted by the Whitby Fury's Ryan McCutcheon and the Burlington Cougars' Mitchell Morrison. The MHL came back to tie things up on goals by the Bearcats' DYLAN BURTON and the Ramblers' JORDAN KING who notched his third in his last three games. OJHL goalie Tigers' Bradley van Schubert made 19 saves in regulation. And so to the 'dreaded' shootout- great for the fans at least!
First shooter for the MHL- Michael Dill of the Pictou County Crushers- no. Up next Petrucci-no. Logan O'Neill of the South Shore Lumberjacks was next in line for the MHL- no. Kingston's Cole Edwards next for the OJHL side- no. The fifth shooter of the round DYLAN BURTON was successful as was the Golden Hawks' MICHAEL SILVERI and it's 1-1 and on to KYLE WARD of the Edmundston Blizzard who put the MHL up one. The pressure now on the Blades' MATTHEW KELLENBERGER but he made no mistake beating goalie Francis Asselin of the Blizzard. Campbell Pickard of Truro then missed and the hero of the hour RYAN MCCUTCHEON scored to give the OJHL squad the extra time 3-2 victory.
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Game 3- OJHL Hawerchuk and LHJQ Burrows- Group A.
The single point from a 3-2 shutout loss was enough to give Team Hawerchuk second place in the Group and a berth in the semi-finals. All four regulation time goals were netted in the first half with LUCAS THIERUS of the St. Jerome Panthers opening and closing the scoring, the first one coming on the powerplay. In between it was the Tigers' captain JAKE BRICKNELL from the Fury's Shane Bull and the Patriots' Michael Boushy and on their powerplay Dukes' captain COLIN DOYLE from Cameron Searles of the Buzzers and the Dukes' Andrew Rinaldi. Luca Durante from the Chargers saved 18 in regulation and the Panthers' Samuel Gagnon stopped 21...and so for the second straight game it's a shootout to decide the winner. No one had success until the tenth skater found the net and the hero in this one was JACOB LAPIERRE of the Valleyfield Braves. The Burrows finished the round robin with a 2-2 record.
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Game 4- OJHL Oates and LHJQ St. Louis- Group B.
With CCHL White already guaranteed number one spot in the Group this set up as a battle between the two teams with 2 win and 1 loss records to decide who would take second place and an entry into the semi-finals. The Quebec side wasted little time in this one and scored at 1.04 of the first from Longueuil's SAMUEL GUILBAULT. There would be no more scoring for the rest of the half with St. Louis outshooting Team Oates 10-9. No one could find the net in the second so it's off to the semi-final for the St. Louis squad and a 2-2 tournament finish for the Oates. Getting the shutout was GABRIEL MORENCY of Longueuil while the IceHawks' Noah Battaglia made 22 saves for Team Oates. The St. Louis side ended 3-1 and took first place in the Group on a tiebreaker with CCHL White in second spot.
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With the crossover format in place for the semi-finals the first place finisher in Group A plays the second in Group B and the second place finisher in Group A playing the winner of Group B.
The first semi-final pitted the CCHL clubs against each other, White and Red, and in the second game it was Team Hawerchuk against Team St. Louis of the LHJQ.
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Semi-final number one- CCHL Red versus CCHL White. It was a close one, as expected, with the Reds advancing to the final with a 4-3 win. CCHL leading scorer SAMUEL KNOBLAUCH (Carleton Place) opened the scoring and had the game winner in the back-and-forth contest. Also finding the net for the victors were TIM THEOCHARIDIS (Carleton Place), BEN TUPKER (Carleton Place), assisted by brother Zach and JUSTIN CMUNT (Carleton Place) with the empty netter. A clean sweep of the goalscoring by the club who leads the CCHL Robinson Division by nineteen points. For the Whites' it was MATTHEW BARNABY (Pembroke Lumber Kings), son of an ex-NHL-er of the same name, NICK LALONDE from the Ottawa Jr. Senators and teammate PIERRE-LUC VEILLETTE. Cmunt and Knoblauch ended up with three point games. 'Keeper Jeremie Forget (Carleton Place) took the win making seventeen saves. So off to the final for CCHL Red against the winners of...
Semi-final number two- OJHL's Team Hawerchuk and LHJQ's Team St. Louis. The Quebec League squad got on the scoresheet first with a goal just past the ten minute mark by Longueuil College-Francais' WILLIAM DUPERRON assisted by Jeremy Way-Gagnon (St. Gabriel-de-Brand Montagnards) and Bailey-Bilney Morrissette (Saint-Lazare Revolution). At 15.55 Christian DeDonato (Newmarket) set up Cobourg's CONNOR MACEACHERN to make it 1-1 after one. At 3.31 of the second WILLIAM LEBLANC, from the Granby Inouk, put the LHJQ team ahead again and that would end up being the game-winning goal. LeBlanc has followed up his 72 points of last season with 37 points in 21 games to date. He would score again, this time on the powerplay' to make it a 3-1 game in favour of LHJQ St. Louis. The College's Gabriel Morency made 18 saves. Luca Durante and Mario Cavaliere combined to save a dozen. And off to the final...
Championship final- LHJQ St. Louis against CCHL Team Red- the third game of the day for the Quebec outfit. The showdown unfolded with Reds' JUSTIN CMUNT scoring the only goal of period one. The St. Louis' battled back in a big way, however, in the second half with three goals in a row starting at 5.45 with a shot from PHILLIPE PELLETIER-LEBLANC (Gatineau), followed just over a minute later off the stick of SAMUEL RICHARD (Valleyfield) and then,giving them the 3-1 lead, a marker from SAMUEL GUILBAULT. With the clock running down CONNOR HILL of the Canadians got one back for the Reds' to set up an interesting finish. The hopes of the CCHL team were dashed when MATTHEW NEWBURY of the Princeville Titans scored into the empty net for the St. Louis' 4-2 victory.
The Mayor of Quinte West presented the Challenge Cup trophy to the captain of the St. Louis team Maxime Chagnon. The 19-year old center is in his fourth season with the College-Francais de Longueuil.
CCHL White defenceman ZACH SHALLOUM led all players in the tournament with seven points including three goals. Seven players ended with five points- CCHL Reds' SAMUEL KNOBLAUCH and JUSTIN CMUNT; CCHL Whites' NICK LALONDE, LUC PIERRE VEILLETTE and MATTHEW BARNABY as well as NOJHL's CHRISTIAN BARDARSON and the OJHL Coffey's BEN EVANS. The LHJQ St. Louis' goalkeeper GABRIEL MORENCY was the tops in that department with a 0.80 GAA in five games. The OJHL Oates' FRASER KIRK had 1.00 in two games, JACOB STEWART of the MHL and NATE MCDONALD of OJHL Nieuwendyk had a 1.00 in one game each.
Congratulations to the players of the LHJQ St. Louis and their Head Coach and General Manager Pierre Pertoni and Assistants Eric Labrosse and Jean-Francois Lavergne. and to all the teams and staff that participated in the event.
