Ron Valentine: OJHL Featured Writer
In their third game at the Centennial Cup the Toronto Patriots took on the champions of the Maritime Jr Hockey League, the Truro Bearcats, on Monday night. Truro finished the regular season tied atop the EastLink South Division with the Centennial Cup hosts Summerside, but the Western Capitals took top spot with more regulation victories. In the South playoffs semifinal the Bearcats got past the Pictou (Nova Scotia) County Crushers in round one in five games. In the final they outlasted Summerside in seven games.
In the MetalFab Cup final the ‘Cats beat the EastLink North champions, the Edmundston Blizzard, in five games. Callum Aucoin led the way in goalscoring for Truro with 11 in 17 games, Antoine Fontaine tallied seven in 15 games. Goalies Sam Berthiaume and Louca Connolly combined for a 1.99 goals against average. One player familiar to OJHL fans is former St Michael’s Buzzer Jayden Connors. The defenceman/forward had a 26-point regular season and added nine more in the MHL playoffs. Jayden and the Patriots’ Hudson Cummins were teammates in the 2023-24 season in St Michael’s.
The Bearcats had a 1-1 record in the tournament going in with a 4-1 loss to the NOJHL’s Sudbury Cubs and then a bounceback 2-1 win against the LHJAAAQ’s College Français de Longueuil with Fontaine scoring the game winner on the powerplay.
Going into the contest the Patriots’ Cole Cooksey led all scorers at the Centennial Cup with eight points including four goals, Lucaino Bruno and blueliner Luke Howard had five points apiece. They had a record of two wins in two games and 15 goals scored with only five against.
Following the 20 goals scored in the first two games of the day (Flin Flon 6 Sudbury 4 and Rockland 8 Thunder Bay 2, with Gabriel Le Houillier scoring the hat trick) would the trend continue in the third and final Monday game?
Colton Woods drew in up front for the Patriots forming an all-rookie starting line with Owen McGuckin and Bodhi Ryan while Peter Koukouves was back in on defence. Nico Armellin the starting netminder.
For the first time at the event the Patriots fell behind and it was on a high lob shot from defenceman Matthew Merryweather that found its way into the top corner of the net. It came just shy of the six minute point. Both clubs had good chances in the first period and the Bearcats got the 1-0 advantage to stand up despite being outshot 14-8.
In the second period Truro used their physicality up front to put pressure on the Patriots defence and they were rewarded with a goal by Eli Baillargeon. The Patriots took just 26 seconds to reply with Woods skating in to flick a quick wrist shot past goalie Louca Connolly at the 3:48 mark. The Bearcats took back their two-goal lead as Ben Lindsay connected from close in deflecting a Nathan Curson feed. It would be a 4-1 game with just under four minutes left with Austin Hoyt jumping on a loose puck to beat Armellin. There were 7.3 seconds remaining on the clock when Drew Kiever made it 5-1 Truro. In this period the Patriots were credited with 16 shots, Truro with 15.
The third saw fewer chances at both ends but with a little under five minutes left Samuel Vachon found himself all alone at the side of the net and he made it 6-1 with a powerplay marker. Shots on goal favoured Truro 14-11.
The result leaves the teams tied for top spot in their division with 2-1 records.
Head Coach Vince Bellissimo was not happy with the outcome of this one but: “You have to remember there are nine champions in this tournament. We did not play well physically or mentally in this one but the Bearcats deserved the win, they hustled all night and their goalkeeper played a strong game. Now we have to get a good result on Wednesday.”
The goal scorer, Woods: “It was great getting in and playing with Bodhi and Owen again and of course scoring the good. This is a great group of guys and I know we can bounce back.”
Next action for Toronto will be Wednesday at 4 pm versus the College Francais de Longueuil in their final game of the round-robin.
