Already entrenched as the favourites heading into SDSSAA boys hockey post-season action, the St. Charles College Cardinals recently added to their resume with a solid performance at the St. Peter Classic in Peterborough last week.
The Cardinals advanced through to the "AA" final before dropping a 2-0 decision to the R.S. McLaughlin Trojans from Ottawa. The locals posted a record of 2-0-1 in round robin play, starting things off with a 4-2 win over the Holy Cross Centurions from Strathroy.
Matty Belanger paced the attack for the winners with a two goal effort, with solo tallies coming off the sticks of Justin Gibeault and captain Bryceton Lalonde.
Zach Nicholson netted the game-winning goal in overtime as the Campbellford Flames slipped past St. Charles 3-2 in game two, with Lalonde and Braedan Gobbo pulling the trigger for coaches Rob Zanatta, Darren Michelutti and Casey Thompson.
Defense was the name of the game in their third outing as goaltender Riley Ouellette backstopped the Cardinals to a 1-0 win over the KCI Raiders (Kitchener), with Joel Emond providing the game's only goal early in the first period.
Getting a bye through to the semi-finals, the Sudbury reps used a three goal second period outburst in tripping up Crescent School from Toronto 4-3. Tayler Bedard and Tanner Webkamigad buried two goals apiece, with three of the four markers coming in a span of just over two minutes late in the middle stanza.
Back home, after running off nine straight wins to open the first half of their regular season schedule, the St. Charles crew have improved to 11-0 with a pair of victories in January. Earlier this month, the team capitalized four times on the power-play, taming the St. Benedict Bears 5-4 in a contest in which the Cardinals once led 4-0.
Stationed directly in front of the net on the "PP", Justin Gibeault scored twice, including the game-winner with 1:59 to play. Webkamigad, Joe Guzzo and Riley Bridge rounded out the scoring for the league front-runners, while Waylon Naponse, Calvin Puro, Dexter Mansfield and Eric Roussell answered for St Benedict.
More recently, the Cardinals doubled the Confederation Chargers 4-2 as Matty Belanger broke a 2-2 tie with under eight minutes to play, adding an empty-net insurance marker in the dying seconds. Webkamigad added a pair of goals for St Charles, while Kyle Preseau and Mason Blinn found the back of the net 40 seconds apart in the final minute of period two.
The Horizon Aigles also needed a late goal, but in their case, it was simply to garner a tie as Joel Pitre drilled home his second of the game with 2:44 to play, earning his team a 3-3 draw with the Lo-Ellen Park Knights.
Alex Frappier joined Pitre on the score sheet for the Aigles, while Burke Speck, Parker Anderson and Matti Allen hit the mark for the Knights. Finally, the Lasalle Lancers appear ready to push toward a Division "B" banner this year, stomping the Espanola Spartans 7-1 in league play.
Cole King registered the hat trick for Lasalle, with Nick Crawford, Tyrus Cuculick, Tyler Masson and Kaeleb Edmunds rounding things off while Miles Sutherland replied in a losing cause for Espanola.
League play continues through until Monday (Jan. 22), before the teams break for exam week, hitting the ice again come Thursday, Feb. 1.
