Police Cup finals provide exciting action

The roar of the crowd could be heard, with ease, the moment one entered the arena.

The excitement became even more palpable as one drew nearer to the surface of the ice. This was not, however, the latest first-place matchup for the high-flying Sudbury Wolves.

Rather, it was championship Sunday for the Sudbury Playground Hockey League (SPHL) Police Cup at the Gerry McCrory Countryside Sports Complex. Given the drama that unfolded in several golf-medal games, it was a small wonder fans were straddling the edge of their seats.

No final, however, could duplicate the Atom encounter, which literally came right down to the dying seconds. The Algonquin Hawks and Cedar Park Wings had traded goals through the better part of two and a half periods, with the Hawks holding a slim 3-2 lead coming home.

The Wings, however, were pressing. Pressing hard. And with just 2.8 seconds to play, Jaden Martin wristed a shot perfectly from his position in the slot, looking to send the contest to overtime.

The collective sigh of relief from the Algonquin faithful could be heard throughout the rink as the shot glanced off the crossbar and landed harmlessly in the corner, as the Hawks celebrated narrowly dodging the game-tying bullet.

Such was the level of excitement in three of the four championship encounters. In the aforementioned Atom matchup, Matthew Duncan, Maxim Dumais and Viktor Bulic scored for Algonquin, with Kepler Salt and Joshua Gascon countering for Cedar Park.

The Novice final was equally as close as Codey Rivard scored a pair of goals to lead Cedar Park past Algonquin 3-2 in a mirror-image of the Atom finale. Carter Oakes rounded out the scoring for the winners, with Sheldon Berry and Peter Guerra finding the back of the net in a losing cause.

The Lo-Ellen Lightning jumped out to a 3-0 lead and withstood a later challenge from the Riverdale Sharks, securing the Bantam banner with a 4-2 win. Goals from Cédric Clément, Josh Renelli, Jacob Sutton and Keggan Boeswald provided the margin of victory for the Lightning, with Alexander Charlebois drilling both goals in a losing cause for Riverdale.

The Peewee final did not follow the script as the Long Lake Thunder exploded for five goals in the first period alone, tripling the Bulldogs 9-3. Will Lawton enjoyed a four-goal outing to show the way for the Thunder, with Ben Ashley adding a hat trick and Owen Dyerchipping in with two goals of his own.

Brandon Durocher scored all three goals for the Bulldogs, ending their dream run. The OPP-sponsored team had not won even in a single game in previous years before advancing all the way to the finals this past weekend.

Following is a breakdown of game scores and goal scorers as noted on the scoresheets that were made available by the SPHL at the tournament:

Novice Division

Cedar Park Wings 3 (Cody Rivard-2, Carter Oakes)
Algonquin Hawks 2 (Sheldon Berry, Peter Guerra)
*Championship Final

Semi-Finals
Algonquin Hawks 5 (Peter Guerra-3, Eric Dixon, Matthew Guerra)
Cedar Park Red Wings 4 (Charlie Hollohan-3, Ryan Kramer)

Cedar Park Wings 3 (Emma Dawson, Carter Oakes, Antoine Ouellette)
Lo-Ellen Park Lightning 2 (D. Gibb, C. Hennessy)

Cedar Park Red Wings 4 (Charlie Hollohan-3, Elliot McMullan)
Long Lake Thunder 1 (Jack Ehmke)

Algonquin Hawks 10 (Eric Dixon-4, Christian Hodgins-3, Jacob Burton, Max Rousselle, Isaac Michael)
Westmount Wolverines 1 (Jean-Henri Levesque)

Cedar Park Wings 3 (Codey Rivard-3)
Lo-Ellen Lightning 3 (D. Gibb-2, A. Boileau)

Lo-Ellen Lightning 5 (D. Gibb-2, P. Dumont-2, A. Dewulf)
Westmount Wolverines 0

Cedar Park Wings 4 (Cale Bast, Antoine Ouellette, Carter Oakes, Timothy Jacot de Boinod)
Long Lake Thunder 0

Cedar Park Red Wings 3 (Charlie Hollohan-3)
Lo-Ellen Lightning 2 (A. Dewulf, P. Dumont)

Long Lake Thunder 4 (Hudson Price-2, Kalan Payzant, Max Campbell)
Westmount Wolverines 0

Algonquin Hawks 8 (Eric Dixon-2, Christian Hodgins-2, Sheldon Berry-2, Peter Guerra, Matthew Guerra)
Cedar Park Red Wings 6 (Charlie Hollohan-5, Maryn Tarini)

Atom Division

Algonquin Hawks 3 (Matthew Duncan, Maxim Dumais, Viktor Bulic)
Cedar Park Wings 2 (Kepler Salt, Joshua Gascon)
*Championship Final

Semi-Finals
Algonquin Hawks 5 (Hayden Lahaie-2, Austin Mader, Viktor Bulic, Dylan Assinewe)
Lo-Ellen Lightning 1 (William Thistle)

Cedar Park Wings 6 (Jaden Martin-3, Kepler Salt-2, Jeramy Sawyer)
Long Lake Thunder 1 (Jacob Pellerin)

Algonquin Hawks 4 (Maxim Dumais, Hayden Lahaie, Viktor Bulic, Ethan Roy)
Lo-Ellen Lightning 1 (Jack Zilio)

Long Lake Thunder 2 (Liam Roque, Jacob Pellerin)
Lo-Ellen Lightning 1 (Austin Mashinter)

Algonquin Hawks 6 (Maxim Dumais-2, Stephanie Bankie, Hayden Lahaie, Austin Mader, Ethan Roy)
Westmount Wolverines 0

Lo-Ellen Lightning 1 (Jack Zilio)
Westmount Wolverines 0

Algonquin Hawks 2 (Dylan Assinewe, Maxim Dumais)
Long Lake Thunder 0

Cedar Park Wings 6 (Kepler Salt-3, Joshua Gascon-2, Jeramy Sawyer)
Westmount Wolverines 2 (Nikolas Smith-2)

Algonquin Hawks 3 (Dylan Assinewe, Ethan Roy, Maxim Dumais)
Cedar Park Wings 2 (Ben MacNeil, Kepler Salt)

Cedar Park Wings 8 (Kepler Salt-3, Joshua Gascon-2, Hannah Gascon, Cameron Oakes)
Lo-Ellen Lightning 1 (Alec Flannagan)

Peewee Division

Long Lake Thunder 9 (Will Lawton-4, Ben Ashley-3, Owen Dyer-2)
Bulldogs 3 (Brandon Durocher-3)
*Championship Final

Semi-Finals
Bulldogs 9
McFarlane Lakers 8 (Brett Stewart-2, Tyson Pellinen-2, Raquel LeBeau, Jacob
Pilon, Cameron Docking, Kai Mallory)

Long Lake Thunder 2 (Hadyn Kivinen-2)
Lo-Ellen Lightning 0 (shutout Jacob Greenough)

Bulldogs 7
Cedar Park Wings 4 (Maxim Lacroix, Bradley Blais, Jillian Kadwell, Brady Sivazlian)

Lo-Ellen Lightning 5 (Robbie Geick-3, Patterson Tarini, Colleen Zilio)
Westmount Wolverines 2 (Spencer Caruso-2)

Riverdale Sharks 7 (Aidan Luoma-3, Chad Sweeney, Chase Paquette, Joshua Desjardins, Garret Wisniewski)
Bulldogs 6

Riverdale Sharks 4 (Kaiden Belanger-Kirkey, Dylan Laframboise)
Westmount Wolverines 3 (Spencer Caruso, Chris Rocca, Tristan Piche)

Long Lake Thunder 3 (Cam Hourtovenko, Ben Paquette, Hadyn Kivinen)
Lo-Ellen Lightning 1 (Robbie Geick)

Cedar Park Wings 2 (Jillian Kadwell-2)
McFarlane Lakers 1 (Alias Durocher)

Bulldogs 8
Westmount Wolverines 3 (Chris Rocca-2, Nicholas Durkac)

Lo-Ellen Lightning 2 (Patterson Tarini, Robbie Geick)
Cedar Park Wings 1 (Bradley Blais)

Long Lake Thunder 4 (Ben Ashley-2, Will Lawton, Ben Paquette)
Riverdale Sharks 1 (Kaiden Belanger-Kirkey)

Bantam Division

Lo-Ellen Lightning 4 (Jacob Sutton, Keggan Boeswald, Cédric Clement, Josh Renelli)
Riverdale Sharks 2 (Alexander Charlebois)

Semi-Finals
Lo-Ellen Lightning 4 (Jacob Sutton-2, Cohen Boeswald, Keggan Boeswald)
Westmount Wolverines 2 (Johnny Foisy-2)

Riverdale Sharks 3 (Liam Haris, Richard Desjardins, Jones Lebeau)
Long Lake Thunder 2 (Matthew Paquette, Branden Lavoie)

Westmount Wolverines 3 (Mathieu Arsenault-2, Rene Valiquette)
Cedar Park Wings 0

Long Lake Thunder 3 (Branden Lavoie-2, Curtis Carpino)
Algonquin Hawks 0

Lo-Ellen Lightning 3 (Patrick Huska, Cedric Clement, Thomas Houle)
Algonquin Hawks 0

Cedar Park Wings 3 (Noah Gascon-2, Brad Potvin)
Algonquin Hawks 1 (Alexander Campbell)

Long Lake Thunder 4 (Branden Lavoie-2, Aidan Hurley, Patrick Sauve)
Riverdale Sharks 3 (Brandon Lalonde-2, Rylee Mallette)

Lo-Ellen Lightning 9 (Patrick Huska-3, Jacob Sutton-3, Cedric Clement-2, Thomas Houle)
Riverdale Sharks 3 (Brandon Lalonde-2, Carson Lafreniere)