NEWS

The Dieppe Commandos celebrate after defeating the Truro Bearcats 5-2 on Friday night. WIth the win, the Commandos swept the Kent Cup championship final in four straight. Photo Credit - Ryan Cooke - Truro Daily News

The Dieppe Commandos are the 2015 Kent Cup Champions.
 
Led by a four point effort from forward Robbie Graham, the Commandos defeated the Truro Bearcats 5-2 at the Rath Eastlink Community Center on Friday night to sweep the best of seven championship series 4-0.
 
It’s the first league championship for the Dieppe Franchise in 20 years, when they won what was then known as the Callaghan Cup in 1995 as the Moncton Beavers. This is also the first four game sweep in the league final since the Summerside Western Capitals defeated the Pictou County Weeks Crushers in four straight in 2011.
 
The Commandos got things started at the 3:19 mark of the first when Graham buried the first of his two goals on the night past Bearcats netminder Jacob Fancy. Truro tied things up three and a half minutes later on a blast from Jake Primeau that got past Dieppe starting goaltender Marc Terriault. Commandos captain Ryan Langan would allow his squad to retake the lead on a goal with just over seven minutes remaining in the period.
 
The second period saw the Bearcats draw even with Dieppe once again as Jordan McNaughton found the back of the net for his eighth goal of the postseason at the 4:14 mark. For McNaughton, it was his 23rd and final point of the Kent Cup playoffs, which earns him the scoring title for the postseason in the MHL. The Commandos would strike back with a pair of goals as Andrew Meredith scored his eighth goal of the postseason at 6:03 followed by Graham’s second of the contest and seventh of the playoff with just over a minute and a half remaining in the middle frame.
 
Jeremy Doucet would cap off the scoring on the night with a powerplay drive at the 11:42 mark of the third. Marc Terriault would earn his 12th win of the postseason by posting 21 saves while Fancy took the loss while kicking aside 28 shots.
 
Graham, the Player of the Year in the MHL regular season for 2014-15, would add the playoff MVP award to his trophy case upon completion of this game thanks to his 18 points in 14 games and impressive two way play. Overall, Graham tallied 117 points on the year, regular season and playoffs combined.
 
The Commandos now prepare to represent the MHL at the 2015 Fred Page Cup in Cornwall, Ontario. The tournament, set to take place from April 28th-May 3rd, will also feature the Cornwall Colts as well the championship squads from the QJHL and CCHL. Those two series, featuring the Longueuil College Francais and Sherbrooke Cougars in the QJHL and Carleton Place Canadiens and Pembroke Lumber Kings in the CCHL, are still underway.
 
The MHL congratulates the players, coaches and staff of the Dieppe Commandos on their impressive regular season and successful playoff run.
 
Will MacLaren – themhl.ca