Happy hosts
Andrew McCarron completes third-period comeback with a pair of highlight-reel goals
COXHEATH — Andrew McCarron capped off a memorable Red Cup by scoring both the tying and winning goals to lead his Riverview Redmen to their first championship title since 2013 with a 4-3 victory over Cole Harbour’s Auburn Drive Eagles.
McCarron drove the standing room only crowd of about 1,200 fans into a frenzy when he evened the game at 3-3 with less than six minutes left in the third period. From that point on the host Redmen played like a team possessed and were finally rewarded for their dominance when McCarron scored the winning goal with just 1:16 remaining on the clock.
The ending was a dream come true for the 17-year-old Grade 12 student from Coxheath who dedicated the tournament to the memory of his grandfather, Terry McCarron, who passed away last summer at the age of 80.
The big forward, who didn’t make the Redmen in his Grade 10 year, was one of many returning players who suffered the agony of defeat in 2018 when they lost the title game 5-0 to Halifax West. McCarron scored a Cape Breton High School Hockey League-leading 27 goals this season as Riverview finished with a 17-1-0-0 record.
But he wasn’t the only happy Redmen player on Sunday. Captain Dylan MacDonald was only too thrilled to hoist the Red Cup following the victory. MacDonald and McCarron, who led the Red Cup in scoring, were named the tournament’s co-MVPs, while Riverview goalie Michael MacMullen was named the competition’s top goalie.
The visitors opened the scoring early in the first period on the first of Hunter Canning’s two goals before Carter Harnish evened the affair just 19 seconds later. Blake Cox gave the hosts the lead with a power play goal before the first period was finished.
Auburn scored the only goal of the second period when defenceman Logan Gillis bulged the twine behind MacMullen. Then, in the third period, the Eagles took the lead on Canning’s second of the game.
Cue the comeback. Cue McCarron’s wicked wrist shot.
His game-tying goal sent the crowd into a frenzy and his game-winning goal, a blistering shot that caught the top corner of the net, was met with even more cheering and applause, the majority of it coming from the students’ sea of red area behind the Redmen bench.
The victory marked Riverview’s ninth Red Cup title since the tournament began back in the 1978. Prior to Halifax West’s 2018 win, the tournament was cancelled in 2017 due to a teachers’ work-to-rule campaign while the Glace Bay Panthers copped the championship in both 2016 and 2015.