St. Paul’s repeat as high school hockey champs

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This article was published 13/03/2017 (3363 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

PORTAGE LA PRAIRIE — The St. Paul’s Crusaders, who dominate high school boys hockey like no other school, surged to their sixth Manitoba title in 11 years Monday night.

With forwards Connor Stewart and Dylan Moll scoring twice each and Kieran Guttormson adding a goal and three assists, the Crusaders broke open a tight game in the second period en route to beating the Vincent Massey Trojans 8-4 in the final of the Milk AAAA Provincial High School Boys Hockey Championship at the Stride Centre.

“This year our motto in the room was ‘meat and potatoes hockey,’” said Stewart, who was also a member of last year’s provincial championship squad. “So just dump it in, hard forecheck, get the cycle going, nice easy plays. We stuck to our game plan and we came out with the win. Everybody chips in.”

Stewart, the team’s captain, was named MVP of the tournament and joined on the all-star squad by teammates Moll and John Jebamani, a defenceman.

“It was a great way to end off the year and my high school career,” said Stewart. “More than half our team probably could have won that MVP. I’m just really grateful.”

“He certainly came through today,” said Crusaders head coach Andrew Harder of Stewart. “What did he get, an MVP and an all-star. He is such an unbelievable kid off the ice, too, so it’s awesome when good things happen like that to good kids and he’s a really good leader for us.”

The Crusaders seized control early, getting goals from Stewart at 2:13 and Guttormson at 11:18 of the first period for a 2-0 lead. St. Paul’s had a 8-0 edge in shots but that was soon to change.

Jared Bucci, the city’s regular-season scoring champ, got the Trojans on the board at 11:45 on the power play, sliding home a loose puck behind goaltender Eric Samyn. It was Massey’s first shot of the game.

Less than two minutes later, Mason Froese tied the game 2-2 when he ripped a shot past Samyn after a nifty feed in the slot from Cameron Stubbs. Stewart restored the Crusaders lead at 8:15 of the middle frame, corralling Guttormson’s cross-ice pass to fire a bad-angle shot past Massey goaltender Zak Bannatyne.

Two minutes later, Grade 10 blue-liner Ethan Lewis provided a back-breaker for St. Paul’s, wristing a point shot that eluded Bannatyne to give the defending champs a 4-2 lead.

Moll made it 5-2 St. Paul’s at 16:37 of the second period, but Massey sniper Skylar Tremblay snuffed any immediate thoughts of a blowout, potting a marker at 18:16.

“Being able to run all of our lines and have everybody on the team contribute,” said Guttormson, who scored rare double by winning a provincial hockey title along with a AAA city football title last fall. “It was really good because our younger guys really stepped up, our defence, forwards, all positions, everyone played really well and it was our depth, I think, that won us this game.”

Kieran Ursel and Brennan Ostir scored early in the final period to push the St. Paul’s lead to 7-3 before Trevor Rusnak answered for Massey. Ostir’s goal spelled the end for Bannatyne, who was replaced by Jack Shaffer after stopping 19 of 26 shots. Moll added an empty-netter with time running out.

“We answered back (after) they got a couple early,” said Massey head coach Tanner Robertson, whose club lost a 2-1 decision to St. Paul’s in last year’s provincial final.

“(The) second period wasn’t our best. We got into a bit of penalty trouble and they capitalized on their chances. We battled back in the third, but we just didn’t have enough at the end of the day. They’ve got a deep team. Three lines and six D that all can skate. We were with them, but just didn’t have it at the end of the night.”

mike.sawatzky@freepress.mb.caTwitter: @sawa14