It took 44 years, but Atlantic Canada can finally stake claim as Telus Cup champions.
In dramatic fashion, the Cape Breton West Islanders capped off an improbable run with a thrilling 5-4 overtime victory over the Saint Francois Blizzard in the Gold Medal game on Sunday at Prince George’s CN Centre.
From 38 players at try-outs before the season started to national champions, it's been a historic season, @CBWestIslanders. ? #nsproud pic.twitter.com/qjgPu5DqM1
— Hockey Nova Scotia (@HockeyNS) May 1, 2017
The fireworks began early with six of the game’s nine goals being scored in the opening 20 minutes.
Sam Dickner opened the floodgates three minutes into the game with a breakaway marker past Islanders goaltender Colten Ellis for a 1-0 lead.
Telus Cup MVP Jacob Hudson responded right back for the Islanders just three minutes later, rifling home a Logan Chisholm feed past Blizzard goaltender Philippe Gaudreault evening up the score at 1-1.
Without taking much of a breathe, Saint Francois saw themselves back in the drivers seat after Metis Roelens parked himself in front of the Cape Breton goal and made life easy for Yan-Cedric Gaudreault, going glove side on Ellis.
Less then two minutes afterwards, the Islanders punched back courtesy of Stephen Fox, who potted one of his two goals of the contest thanks to a blazing wrist shot that also found its way past the Saint Francois netminder, tying things up at two.
The offensive surge swung back in favour of the Blizzard when Dickner scored his second of the game, followed by a power-play marker by Vincent Guy for a 4-2 lead.
.@HC_TELUSCup FINAL: @blizzardaaa Dickner scores 2, including 1 SH, to give team a 4-2 lead on @CBWestIslanders after 20 #CityOfPG @mypgnow pic.twitter.com/fTJB7A4Rxt
— Kyle Balzer (@KyleBalzer) April 30, 2017
The play tightened up considerably in the second, but the turning point in the game was a controversial no goal call that went against the Blizzard after it was determined the puck never crossed the line.
However, upon further review it looked more like goaltender interference on the video feed from the media area.
Cape Breton West found some life in the third period after Ellis turned away several ‘grade A’ scoring chances from the Blizzard snipers, who were unable to put away the scrappy Nova Scotia bunch.
Fox roofed another goal for the Islanders less then five minutes into the frame, blistering home a Calum MacPherson pass narrowing the gap to 4-3.
The clock did not strike midnight on the Cinderella story as Chisholm decided to be apart of the goal parade by tying things up at four after jamming home a loose puck.
.@HC_TELUSCup FINAL: We have a tie game! @CBWestIslanders make it 4-4 vs. @blizzardaaa with 5min left! #CityOfPG @mypgnow pic.twitter.com/sNIXwqjV6M
— Kyle Balzer (@KyleBalzer) May 1, 2017
In overtime, Chisholm would play the hero for the Islanders ripping home a pass from Hudson who collected his third point of the game sending everyone into a frenzy both on the ice and the strong Cape Breton contingent in the crowd.
HISTORY HAS BEEN MADE! The @CBWestIslanders top Saint-Francois 5-4 in OT to become the first-ever Atlantic @HC_TELUSCup champions! #nsproud pic.twitter.com/HdrUAYGyct
— Hockey Nova Scotia (@HockeyNS) May 1, 2017
MYPGNOW caught up with Fox after the game, who was still basking in the moment after his team captured the gold medal.
“I can’t describe it. It’s insane, to be the first ever to win out of all the good teams Atlantic has had and for us to be the first it’s amazing. It was exactly our fashion to come back and win it. I think it is a great story too.”
Islanders Head Coach Kyle MacDonald says it was important for his squad to maintain their composure after falling behind by a pair.
“I wanted to make sure our emotions were in check, it’s an emotional game as a lot was at stake and every guy in that room wanted it so bad and it would have been easy to loose control of your emotions.”
Blizzard Head Coach Martin Lapierriere was very emotional after the game, who went on to say a defeat of this nature is tough to swallow.
“A loss like this is certainly going to sting for a while. I felt the guys gave it their all and we had so many chances we didn’t bury, we made a couple of mistakes on the third and fourth goal but at the end of the day the guys competed hard and credit Cape Breton.”
Saint Francois outshot Cape Breton 48-27 in the game.
In the Bronze Medal match-up, the Mississauga Rebels skated to a 4-1 victory over the Regina Pat-Canadians earlier in the day.
Calder Lund opened the scoring on the power-play for the Rebels, beating Regina goaltender Nathan Moore for a lead after 20 minutes.
Massimo Petricca and Ryan Madigan added to the lead in the second giving the Rebels a commanding 3-0 advantage heading into the final frame.
Evan Benwell made Regina netminder Dean McNabb pay for a misplay in front of the crease putting the game out of reach.
The Pat-Canadians lone marker came on the power-play from Preston Brodziak.
GAME OVER! The Mississauga Rebels take bronze with a 4-1 win over the @aaapatcanadians. Statistics: https://t.co/lUrEms0uvX #TELUSCup pic.twitter.com/A4LimCq6gr
— TELUS Cup (@HC_TELUSCup) April 30, 2017
Regina Head Coach Darrin McKechnie believes Saturday’s semi-final heartbreak against Saint Francois took its toll mentally.
“It just wasn’t our team that played today, we didn’t have much pizzazz and I didn’t realize how much yesterday’s game wore on them.”
Rebels goalie Josh Eisfeld made 39 saves for the victory and was very complementary of his teammate Christian Purboo, who was named the Top Goalie of the tournament.
“Christian is a great goalie. He’s the sole reason we are here and would not have gotten out of our league if it wasn’t for him so I give him credit for a lot of our success.”
Cariboo Cougars defenceman Jeremy Gervais was named Top Defenceman of the Telus Cup during the awards banquet on Saturday.
The Top Defenceman is Jeremy Gervais (@Gervz_) of the @cariboocougars. #TELUSCup @BCHockey_MML @BCHockey_Source pic.twitter.com/clEdQkC8K6
— TELUS Cup (@HC_TELUSCup) April 30, 2017
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