Ron Valentine: Featured Writer
The Toronto Patriots took on the Alberta Jr Hockey League’s Canmore Eagles in the opening quarter finals match at the Credit Union Place in Summerside on Friday afternoon. The Patriots ended the round robin with 2 wins and 2 losses and a third place finish in their Division while the Eagles finished with a 3 win, 1 loss record with one of the wins coming in extra time, good for second spot. The second quarter final of the day pitted the MHL’s Summerside Western Capitals and the Truro Bearcats against each other for the 16th time this season.
Cole Cooksey led the way in scoring for Toronto with 6 goals and 4 assists good for 10 points. Blueliner Luke Howard had a goal and 6 assists and Luciano Bruno had 5 points in 3 games while rookie Bodhi Ryan had 5 points in 4 contests. For the Eagles John Szabo, Cohen Daoust and Will Lutic finished the prelims with 7 points each. Daoust led Canmore in the regular season with 31 goals and 75 points. The Patriots scored 20 goals and allowed 18 and the Eagles tallied 15 and let in 11.
Canmore GM/Head Coach Andrew Milne who has been in that position since the 2008-09 season on his team through the round-robin, going into the quarter final: ” I started with the team back in January 2008 and this is the first time we have reached the National Championship and so far it has gone pretty well for us.It has been lots of fun, the competition is great, we have played some very good teams. The Cup is a grind but being from the AJHL we are used to long bus trips and lots of time on the road. It’s a new level for most of our players though several have played in the World Jr A Challenge and our captain, John Szabo, was on a team that went to the Memorial Cup. We’ve been following the Patriots closely throughout and they have certainly been a bit of a Jekyll and Hyde team but we know they are creative, they play the puck well and they generate opportunities. For us our goaltender Alex (Alexander Scheiwiller) has been solid giving the club confidence. Our depth up front has been a major reason for our success with different players stepping up and our defence has been able, for the most part, to shut down our opponents. We are eagerly looking forward to the game.”
Lucian Bruno and Simon Howard both returned to the lineup for the Patriots who wore their road whites for the contest. Peter Koukouves drew in on the blueline. The Eagles iced the same lineup as in their final round-robin game with the Niverville Nighthawks. Nico Armellin started in goal for the Patriots and for Canmore it was Alex Scheiwiller.
As expected for two teams meeting for the first time the first half of period one was somewhat tentative with both clubs mostly preferring to dump and chase. The action warmed up in the second half. Luke Howard took the game’s first penalty inside the last two minutes and it only took the Eagles 22 seconds to capitalize with Hudson Landmark finding the top corner to give the AJHL’ers a 1-0 lead after 20 minutes.
It was an action-packed second stanza as the Eagles came out fast but Armellin was equal to the task and at 4:34 the Patriots got on the scoreboard with Cole Cooksey converting a cross ice pass from Kyle Morey for his 7th goal of the tournament. They would take the lead just over a minute later with Tate Collins, with his 1st, coming in from the left side to score on a one-timer with Tommy Karmiris and Luke Howard getting the assists. The Patriots picked up their second infraction of the game with Gabriel Trozzo banished to the box and once again the Eagles would score on the powerplay with Aidan Tkachuk the finisher with the tip in to tie it up. Canmore would take the lead at the 13:19 mark as Will Lutic put it in after circling the net. The visitors were called for their third penalty of the game with Lucas Vacca off for tripping and they would have their backs to the wall starting the third frame down 3-2.
Toronto would kill off the penalty and tie the game at 2:43 as Cooksey netted his second of the contest and eighth of the series, snapping home the loose puck close in and then on their first man-advantage situation of the game the Patriots took the lead for the first time in the contest with Tommy Karmiris scooping it in from the side of the net. They would get another powerplay opportunity and made the most of it with Bruno getting the goal with a wrist shot and suddenly it’s 5-3 Patriots. It was all Toronto now and Hudson Cummins would score on a spin-o-rama to give them the 3-goal cushion.the exclamation mark would be put on the period with a goal by Morey. A dominating third period from the Patriots, digging deep and outhustling the Eagles at every turn. Four unanswered and the Patriots advance. Final 7-3.
Captain Anthony Giacalone on the big win and looking forward to the semifinal against the Niverville Nighthawks on Saturday: “The Nighthawks are a good, strong team but at our best we can beat them. I’m proud of the way the boys came back today especially after they got those two powerplay goals against us. We played Patriot hockey.”
Cooksey, named player of the game for the Patriots; “Killing that penalty at the start of the third period was the turning point for us. We got our confidence and played like we can, lots of hustle, winning the small battles and using our skating to our advantage.”
Karmiris was glad to see his goal go in: “I’ve been struggling a bit around the net but I knew if we persevered we would get our chances. Everyone stepped up and we had a terrific third period and we are not done yet. Hopefully two more games and we are ready.”
