Cougars rally for OT win in final
No one was surprised when Wednesday’s Niagara Region High School Athletic Association Tier 2 (non contact) boys hockey final between the Centennial Cougars and E.L. Crossley Cyclone went into overtime.
After all, last season’s final between the two squads went through regulation time, five-on five overtime, four-on-four overtime, three-on-three overtime and seven or eight shooters in the shootout before Crossley emerged victorious.
On Wednesday, it was the Cougars who came out on top, getting a tying goal with 1:26 left in the game by Grade 12 defenceman Keith Sutherland with Centennial’s goalie pulled and the Cyclone killing a penalty, and then the winner late in the first overtime by Carter Faulkerson to record a 2-1 triumph.
The Cougars also won their semifinal against Thorold in overtime after scoring a tying goal late in the third period.
“I told you. It’s unbelievable,” said Centennial head coach Andy LeBlanc, who predicted before the game even started that there would be overtime again. ‘They are a good team but they came out with all 12s and 12Bs and we have mostly Grade 10 kids. It makes a big difference.”
The biggest difference for the Cougars was in net where Grade 12 goalie Brody Marton made 39 saves, including 25 in the first two periods when Centennial was outshot 26-13.
“Brody was our MVP. He is an excellent kid who we’ve had for years and years here. He saved us,” LeBlanc said. “When you look at him, he always has a smile on his face and it doesn’t matter if we win or lose.”
Besides skill, he feels Marton’s has two main attributes that make him a good goalie.
“It’s his attitude and he plays with his heart. It doesn’t matter what happens to him or anyone. He just shakes it off and goes on like that first goal.”
The 17-year-old goalie was thrilled to finish his high school career with a championship.
“It feels great because we’ve lost to these guys the last two years and I play hockey with couple of those guys,” the Welland U18 goalie said. “It feels good to beat them and I know tonight when I go to practice I will be busting their chops about it.”
Marton didn’t even know his team had given him a chance to be the winning goalie in overtime.
“To be honest, I couldn’t see because I was on the bench. I was just sitting there praying and the team came through for me. I am happy about that.”
Marton knew he couldn’t allow a second goal if he wanted his team to win.
“I just stayed in it and I did my job. I was relying on the players to do what they do.”
He pointed to one main reason why Centennial won the title.
“We had a lot of fun this year. We played our game, did our best and we are all buddies. It all worked out.”
Crossley head coach Jordan Lew described the loss as similar to how all of the Cyclone’s games went against Centennial.
“They’re a tough team. We played them hard and in overtime it was that one shot and that’s how it goes. I am proud of our guys. They played really well and congrats to Centennial. They played really well as well,” he said. “A 2-1 game in the finals. Unfortunately we are on the wrong side of it but you can’t get any better than that.”
Lew feel his team had a solid season.
“We started off strong. We lost to Centennial in the regular season but we continued to build off of that. We had a good streak going in and we worked on small things with our guys. A lot of them play outside of school and we just kind of give little feedbacks here and there. I am proud of how the guys listened to us and build off of each game.”
STATS PACK
Cougars 2 Cyclone 1 (OT)
Cat’s Caboose Player of the Game: Centennial goalie Brody Marton with 39 saves.
For the Centennial Cougars: Keith Sutherland; Carter Faulkerson.
For the E.L. Crossley Cyclone: Jack Brownlee.
Game stats: Shots on goal: By Centennial on Boh Hunchak 26; by Crossley on Brody Marton 40. Penalty minutes: Centennial 6, Crossley 14. Power plays: Centennial 1-6, Crossley 0-2.
