GRAVENHURST - In the dying minutes of the Russell Cup Jr. A championship game, the South Muskoka Shield lived up to its "can't stop, won't stop" motto, but fell short of repeating as champions to a hungry and deserving Deseronto Storm.
Flaunting the words “can win, will win” in a banner above its bench, the confident Storm outplayed the home team at Bracebridge Memorial Arena Thursday night in a do-or-die Game 7.
It was the first time the Greater Metro Hockey League final came down to a deciding game, played out before a record-setting crowd of 1,500-plus spectators.
It was also the first time the South Muskoka Shield watched another team celebrate a championship on their turf.
“It’s very numbing,” coach Dallyn Telford said following the 4-2 loss that cost the Shield its second consecutive Russell Cup title. “Obviously, this was one of the toughest losses I’ve ever had. The hardest thing coaches have to do is enter a dressing room after their team has just lost a championship game. The room is silent, eyes are tear-filled, and the feeling of helplessness is overwhelming. They have done everything you have taught them all season, yet have fallen short. How do you explain that?”
Eager to avenge a Game 6 Russell Cup loss last season, the Deseronto squad was well coached, played their systems nearly perfectly and wanted vengeance on the prime target in the league.
They came out fast and furious and determined to win. Deseronto’s top line featuring captain Brad Clark, Andrew Bobas and John Sweet combined to put two goals past South Muskoka’s Rob Sutherland in the first period.
With little support from the blue-line, Sutherland gave up another marker to Kyle McRae, assisted by Jeff Morris. The Storm had a commanding 3-0 lead with 4:46 to go in the opening frame.
“We made some mistakes that they capitalized on,” said Telford. “We looked somewhat tentative to start the game.”
Strategies like playing four forwards and double-shifting Dylan Sontag, who led the Shield with 85 points this season plus another nine playoff goals and 17 assists, didn’t materialize on the ice.
Although the Shield outshot the Storm 26-9 in the middle frame, they couldn’t find the back of the net — a problem that has been plaguing South Muskoka’s bench on and off for the past two months. The score remained 3-0 after 40 minutes.
“We missed a total of three open nets and it became evident that the bounces were not going our way,” Telford said. “Although we remained confident and continued to work hard throughout the game, there eventually is a moment when you feel that things are slipping away.”
Early in the third, defenceman Adam MacBeth gave fans a glimmer of hope when he laid a wrist shot from inside the blue-line on a screened Jens Kansell.
Overwhelmed by the crowd — Deseronto brought more than 100 of their most zealous supporters — and failing to convert on its only power-play opportunity, the Shield struggled to get past the Storm’s defence and goaltender.
Despite a dismal first period, Sutherland gave his team a chance to win the game when he stopped Clark, the league-leading scorer with 127 points and another 36 in playoffs, on a breakaway. A goal by Clark would have made the game 4-1 for Deseronto.
Deseronto’s Brad Edwards made it so when he scored unassisted on a defensive breakdown with less than six minutes to play. The goal virtually sealed the game for the Storm.
Using a six-man attack for the final two and a half minutes, captain Chad Meagher scored to cut Deseronto’s lead in half with help from Dale Hatfield and Sontag, but it was obvious time was running out.
Meagher agreed the team didn’t get the bounces it needed to catch the new Russell Cup champions. Game 7 can be a coin toss, he added.
“I’m obviously really disappointed,” said the Oro native, who worked his way from the third line to a leading forward and captain in three years. “Our main goal all year was to win it and this series was amazing, but we came up short. It was the best series I’ve played in and a good experience for the guys who are going to play junior in the future.”
Meagher is grateful for the expressions of support during his first junior hockey captaincy.
Looking back on the season he said, “I couldn’t have asked to do better. There were enormous expectations on us and we missed first place by a point and the cup by a game. In the beginning I truly didn’t think we were going to be able to match last year because we had such a good year. But we got stronger and it really was awesome.”
In two years, the Shield earned 98 wins, a testimonial to the leadership of veteran players and commitment of the coaching staff.
“I am extremely proud of my team,” Telford said. “For eight months my players gave me everything they had and were pushed very hard. They sweat, bled, and played through pain, all of them, with one goal in mind. They represented the organization both on and off the ice with a tremendous amount of class and Meagher held the captaincy with professionalism and pride all season.”
A new season is just around the corner, and in the coming weeks the club will begin building a new team in an effort to regain the Russell Cup.