Voyageurs victorious

St. Boniface

St. Vital

The Collège Louis-Riel Voyageurs capped off a near perfect season in fine fashion.

Two powerhouse squads from southeast Winnipeg faced off in the championship series last week when the Voyageurs took on the Dakota Collegiate Lancers. On March 11, Riel won the Winnipeg High School Hockey League’s Winnipeg Free Press Division championship in two straight games.

“It’s really rewarding for the boys, above anything,” said coach Justin Buissé-Laroche. “It was a great season overall.”

CLR won the first game of the final 4-3 in overtime at Seven Oaks Sportsplex on March 9. Luka Tetrault and John-Thomas Cavell scored in the first to give the Voyageurs a 2-0 lead, but Dakota struck back with three quick goals from Triton Joudrey, Ivan Kuschev, and Cruz Agostino (on the power play) in the second period to take the lead. Riel’s Tristan Sabourin tied the game with less than a minute left in the second, and a scoreless third led to overtime. Jesse Trager scored the game winner, on the power play, near the midway mark of the overtime period.

Two days later, Dakota opened the scoring in the first period with a goal from Kuschev, but Riel answered back with a goal from Jesse Trager before the period was over. In the third, the Voyageurs took the lead early on a goal from Jacob Trager and never looked back. Jesse Trager scored again for Riel, on the power play. Then Cole Pritchard notched a power play goal for Dakota with nine minutes left to pull his team within one but Jesse Trager added an insurance marker with nearly eight minutes remaining on the clock to seal the deal for CLR.

For the past few seasons, CLR had played in the Price Division, winning the division title last year. Buissé-Laroche said that this year’s Free Press division championship puts the cap on an eventful high school hockey run for several players who have been with the team the past few seasons.

“It’s very special for them, to be able to move up a division and finish their high-school careers with (this) championship was remarkable,” he said. “Our captain (Davinault Lafrenière) had been on the team four years ago that went 0-24. For him to stick through and finish his high school career with back-to-back championships is very special.”

According to Buissé-Laroche, the keys to the Voyageurs’ success this season were unity and consistency.

“As a group, they were always picking each other up. The leadership group really helped the younger players out, being positive role models,” he said. “We didn’t want to change much (in playoffs). We tried a new approach on the power play that kind of clicked in the playoffs.”

CLR was the top squad in the league’s second-tier division, losing just one game in the regular season, a late-season 3-2 loss to a hungry Springfield squad on Feb. 10. The team then steamrolled its way past J.H. Bruns and Kelvin without losing a game to make it to the final.

“We had a key injury in the semifinals, one of our defenceman shattered his ankle,” Buissé-Laroche said. “For the finals, we had a bit of a switch. Everyone was selfless.”

Dakota, meanwhile, finished third in regular-season, with only three losses — until the playoffs, that is. The Lancers beat Gabrielle Roy in two straight games in the opening round of playoffs before losing 4-3 in OT to Springfield in the first game of the semifinals, then going on to win the next two games to set up the final series.