Northern Vikings Take First LKSSAA Hockey Title
FEBRUARY 26, 2015
The Northern
Vikings competed in their 9th
consecutive high school hockey
final on Thursday night at the
Clearwater Arena before a packed
house.
Previously in LSSAA before the
amalgamation to LKSSAA the
Vikings won the
Lambton Cup four times in
their eight year run and on
Thursday they added win number
five taking the first LKSSAA
title with a final score of 4-2
over St. Pat's.
Also Thursday's
night game was a rematch of
2013-14 when Northern won with
the same score of 4 - 2 and both
games ending with the final goal
scored into the empty net.
Heading into the
final the two teams met twice
with Northern defeating St. Pats
4 - 1 in their first meeting and
in the second both sides were
even with a final 3 - 3.
Northern was ranked #1 in the
standings in the regular season
with a record of 4-0-2, St. Pats
was second with a record of
3-1-2.
In the 2014-15
final Northern scored the first
goal with :50 seconds remaining
in the first period with Cameron
Rannie scoring unassisted after
taking the shot from the slot.
Second goal of the game came in
the first minute of play in the
second by Jason Braun assisted
by Max Steeves. At 3:13 Blain
Adams recorded goal #3 for
Northern with Kevin Durco and
Mike Pearce earning the assist.
"We were lucky
enough to get an early lead,"
Northern Head Coach Joe Bronzi
said "They came back and made it
exciting during the third
period."
St. Pat's never
let up and fought back in the
third and scored 2 goals the
first at 8:56 by Jared Pageau
from Christian Lyle and with
1:08 remaining Josh Barraclough
narrowed the gap with Connor
Coopman and Ryan Greenaway
earning the assist.
As like last
year's final St. Pat's pulled
their goalie and Northern
secured the win after a scramble
in front of the net and Max
Steeves scored with :17 seconds
remaining and Dillon Saunders
picking up the assist.
"It was a well
played games from both ends."
Bronzi said "Our goalie Chaska (Thiel)
made some great saves for us and
kept us in the game. They were
hard on the puck we were a
little bit soft in the third
period. They were relentless but
we were able to sustain a
victory. Both our teams
played very well, it was a very
well fought game."
Blake Morrison
head coach for St. Pat's was
proud of his boys for their
performance.
"It was another
great game," Morrison said "They
just had that extra in the first
period that put put them over
the top. I'm really proud
of my boys they came on and
never quit and made it a heck of
a game at the end."
Northern plays in the SWOSSA
final on Tuesday at 3pm at
Clearwater arena against
Villanova high school of
Windsor.
In the AA game it was a similar
close game - with Lambton-Kent
High School defeating LCCVI by a
score of 2-1.
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