Spirit Game a thriller
Brayden Stafford’s goal late in the third period put the College Heights Cougars ahead, then it was up to goalie Jacob Drapeau to save the day. Drapeau was up to the task, turning back shot after shot from the Prince George Polars in the late stages to preserve a 2-1 victory for College Heights in the 15th annual Spirit of Hockey and Community Cup Friday afternoon at CN Centre.
Stafford was in the right place standing in front of PGSS goalie David Loewen to take a centring pass off the end boards, after some aggressive forechecking behind the net, and the Grade 12 forward snapped it into the net.
“We just got a good bounce at the right time, (Stafford) was right in front and put it away,” said Cougars head coach Craig Horswell. “They just worked hard.”
The Cougars tied the game midway through the second period as a result of some hard work from their all-Grade 8 line of Amar Powar, Nathan Mackie and Decker Mujcin. They crossed into Polar territory and on a 2-on-0 break and Powar scored on the pass from Mackie.
“That line played really well,” said Horswell. “They were outstanding.”
The Polars jumped in front 1-0 in the second period when Camryn Scully, who plays for the triple-A midget female Northern Capitals, picked up a pass from Ray Prive and cut back against the flow to get the puck to Chase Schurack, who put it past goalie Dawson Wickstrom.
“It was an evenly-matched game all the way through,” said Polars head coach Renzo Berra. “In the third period they got two and we had our chances and just couldn’t bury. As usual it was close. Last year it went to double-overtime and that solved nothing and it went to a shootout and we ended up winning. This year was a 2-1 game again. We want a competitive game and that’s what we get from them every year and it’s a ton of fun.”
Drapeau played the first and third periods in net for the Cougars, while Wickstrom played the second period.
“They outshot us, for sure,” said Horswell. “We stressed playing good defence and trying to get some ugly goals if we could and our defence worked really well. The kids were real excited and it was nice for them to come out on the winning side.”
Ten school busloads of students came from PGSS and six busloads came from College Heights for the game. The crowd of about 1,500 brought their voices to the CN Centre stands, raising the needle on the sound-level meter into the high-decibel range.
“We had high school students and elementary students from our family of schools and it was one of the louder games I’ve been to in awhile in terms of the energy they brought to the rink today,” said College Heights secondary school principal Randy Halpape.
The Polars have won the Spirit of Community Cup 10 of the 15 years since the game’s inception in 2003. PGSS held bragging rights the past two years. Both schools use the game to draw attention to their charity Christmas drives.
After the game there was some discussion among the coaches about ways to expand the scope of the annual game and try to get other schools involved.
— see ‘I’VE THOUGHT, page 10
We just got a good bounce at the right time, (Stafford) was right in front and put it away. — College Heights coach Craig Horswell