Titans take city high school title

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This article was published 07/03/2019 (2399 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The J.H. Bruns Broncos and Shaftesbury Titans were in a dead heat.

They had identical regular-season records of 15-8-1, finished tied for first place and split the opening two games of their Winnipeg High School Hockey League B division varsity boys final earlier this week.

Something had to give, so it was fitting, then, that the deciding game of the best-of-three series would be tied 2-2 in the final minute of regulation. Overtime appeared likely, but that was before Titans defenceman Sutter Charron had something to say about it.

Parked to the left of Bruns goaltender Cale Bisiak, Charron gobbled up a loose puck and snapped it into the back of the net with 20.8 seconds left. It was a 3-2 final at the Bell MTS Iceplex, and the game-winner gave Shaftesbury its first city high school boys hockey title in eight years.

“Just had my stick on the ice, a juicy rebound came out and I knew it was do or die, so I had to bury it,” Charron said. “I’m unbelievably happy, I’m speechless.”

Defenceman Jordan Furletti, just 33 seconds into the game, and forward Mitch Wolbert also scored for the winners. Wolbert’s second-period goal marker gave the Titans a 2-1 edge midway through the second period.

Forward Lucas Derksen had both goals for Bruns — the first on a second-period power play and another while the teams were playing 4 on 4 in the middle frame. Derksen came close to giving the Broncos a lead, ringing a shot off a post with 90 seconds left in the second.

It was a penalty-filled game in which the victors were outshot 32-19, relying heavily on goaltender Fraser Senebald, their playoff MVP.

Senebald was sensational in the final period, as the Titans were outshot 12-5.

“It was pretty vicious out there,” Wolbert said. “Both teams came to play. Both teams are physical, and both teams wanted it equally. At the end, we just powered through it.”

When Shaftesbury faded in the second, head coach Gord Woodhall saw it coming.

“You know what? We struggled in the second period all playoffs for whatever reason,” said Woodhall, whose team dropped a 5-2 decision in the series opener Monday before rallying to win 6-5 in a shootout Tuesday. “But I knew after intermission, with the way the guys were in the dressing room, we were going to be able to get them back on track. I thought they did.”

And then a hot goaltender answered when the Titans’ D couldn’t.

“You’ve gotta give credit to them,” fifth-year Broncos head coach Matt Hubbauer said. “They played well. I thought their goalie was outstanding. He made some great saves at the end. I felt we outplayed them — when you look at the shot clock and the skill we had offensively.

“We had them on their heels for the second half of the game. We had two posts in the last half of the game. It’s a game of inches, and I thought we deserved a better fate. That’s hockey. Any way you lose a championship game is going to be tough.”

The Titans knew they had been pushed to the limit.

“They’re a great hockey team,” Woodhall said. “They’re well-coached, they’re fast, they’re skilled. We knew we were going to have to bring our best game. And at the beginning of the series, we challenged them to bring their A-game every night, and they did.

“And so did Bruns. It was a great series.”

Including the post-season, Shaftesbury won four of the five head-to-head meetings between the teams.

“It’s always nice when the top two teams battle it out, so you know who No. 1 is,” Wolbert said. “It just happened to be us today.

“So we’re going to party, have fun and enjoy the moment.”

Forward Dylan Waldmo was named J.H. Bruns’ playoff MVP.

mike.sawatzky@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @sawa14