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Cardinals miss Lively tournament title by 1 goal

The Lively Invitational High School Boys Hockey Tournament was an early season tournament with end of the year excitement as the St.
The Lively Invitational High School Boys Hockey Tournament was an early season tournament with end of the year excitement as the St. Charles College Cardinals and Franco Cité Patriotes met in the final of the 32nd annual tournament Sunday afternoon in Walden.

In a game highlighted by countless twists and turns, including no less than three disallowed goals, the visitors from Sturgeon Falls enjoyed the last laugh.

Captain Jacob Proulx was left all alone on the power play, just to the right of St. Charles' netminder Matt Urso, making no mistake by lifting the game-winning goal with just 40 seconds to play. Franco-Cité slipped past the Cardinals 3-2.

St. Charles appeared to grab control of this contest early, scoring twice in a span of eight seconds as Zach Belanger provided the spark. The smooth-skating forward drilled a slap shot five-hole, barreling down the right wing, to open the scoring then took a perfect cross-crease pass from Brendan Bulfon moments later, doubling the Cardinals' advantage.

Slowly, the Patriotes clawed their way back into the game. Settling down defensively, Franco-Cité narrowed the gap to just one when Martin Strasbourg jammed home a loose puck before the end of the first period.

A scoreless middle frame gave way to countless momentum swings in the third as misplayed off-side shots and displaced goal moorings caused momentary celebrations, without cause.

With roughly six minutes remaining, Jean-Francois Daoust evened the contest at two, converting with his team short-handed when Strasbourg fed a lovely tap-in pass to his teammate, taking full advantage of a two-on-one.

With overtime appearing imminent, the visitors capped the comeback as a slow moving pass slid by a handful of players, directly to Proulx, with the Franco-Cité forward providing the heroics.

Proulx was named game MVP for the Patriotes while Trevor Bedard garnered the honours for St. Charles. Despite the tough loss, Cardinals' head coach Rob Zanatta remained philosophical in defeat.

"It's early in the season and we panicked a little bit today," Zanatta said. "We're a young team and we know that. We were undefeated coming into this game, 12-0 including exhibition games, so if it's going to happen, it might as well happen now so we can learn from it.

"That's what we talked about in the dressing room," he added. "Learning to play with the lead, learning how to settle things down. With the disallowed goals, it was very emotional and it was hard to keep things settled on the bench."

Still, the early season success of his team has the long-time hockey man more than a little optimistic about what lays ahead for the Cards.

"They're a very positive group of guys,” he said. “They're good buddies, they don't get down on each other at all. I like the positive atmosphere in the dressing room and the fact that they work so hard. They just never quit."

With 10 returning players this year, St. Charles is certainly among the mix of local teams whose names are being bandied about as possible city champions, though none would appear to be, in the early going anyways, head and shoulders above the remaining contenders.

"We're there right now, but you see Lockerby, Lasalle and St. Benedict — four teams that on any given night, if you don't have a good night, you can lose a game," Zanatta said. "And that's good, because whomever comes out and goes to NOSSA, because of the competition, will be better off in the long run."

St. Charles advanced to the finals in Lively, doubling the Central Algoma Huskies 6-3 Sunday morning as Curtis Sarazin scored a natural hat trick in the final 4:23 of the second period, helping the Cardinals overcome a 3-2 deficit.

Franco-Cité also benefited from a strong middle frame as Martin Strasbourg scored twice, including a short-handed marker, vaulting the Patriotes past the Lasalle Lancers 4-3 in the remaining semifinal.

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