There will be a new SDSSAA boys hockey champion crowned this year, but with the teams heading into their holiday hiatus, it's pretty much anybody's guess as to who the new king of the mountain might be.
A pre-season favourite coming in, the Horizon Aigles have not disappointed, posting an unblemished record of 10-0-0 through the first half of the campaign. That run, however, includes a handful of close calls, with victories over Lively (4-2), St Charles (2-1) and Espanola (2-1) that could have easily gone either way.
If there is a surprise contender near the top of the standings, it would have to be coach Nolan Bell and the Lively Hawks. With a record of 8-1-1, the team which has generally resided in the Division II brackets the past few years is now up duking it out with the big boys, and proving that they are more than capable of holding their own.
After blasting out of the gates with a stretch that included an impressive win in their own tournament in Lively, the St Charles College Cardinals fell on a bit of tough times, at least by their lofty standards, closing out the first few months at 7-2-1.
"We went through a little skid where it was tough to score goals," noted captain Riley Bridge, shortly after potting two of his own and leading his team to a timely 3-1 win over the St Benedict Bears in their final game before Christmas.
"Because of the success we had before, everybody was worried about scoring," Bridge continued. "We just have to work hard. We know that we can score as a team, we're obviously pretty offensively talented, but we need to be able to score at the right time."
"I think if everybody buys in, we've had success the past couple of years. If everybody comes together, we can still go pretty far again this year."
After Vincent Palladino, of the Bears, and Riley Bridge traded goals just over a minute apart in the second period, it was the 18 year three year veteran of the Cards who would net the difference-maker, scoring a short-handed marker at 1:05 of the final frame after accepting a tape to tape stretch pass from defenceman Ben Fowke.
"I saw the goalie's blocker side pretty wide open and I saw the defenceman closing hard on me, so I just decided to go with the slapshot, and it went in," recalled Bridge. "It was pretty exciting."
Braeden Watson added an insurance goal and netminder Ryan Teddy made it stand, stopping 20 shots, while his counterpart Riley Sabourin finished with 23 saves of his own at the other end of the rink.
Donning the "C" this year, Bridge is not trying to re-invent the wheel, tapping into approaches that he has seen work in the past. "We've had a lot of good leaders here over the time I've been playing, for the past three years," he said.
"I just want to build off them and what they provided to me as a young player when I first started. I wanted to help the young guys this year."
Rounding out the Division I ranks in the league that plays a full round-robin before breaking in two at the midway point are the College Notre-Dame Alouettes (6-2-2), the Bishop Carter Gators (6-3-1) and the Espanola Spartans (4-4-2).
The defending champion Lo-Ellen Park Knights (2-7-1) were hit hard by graduations and will be one of four teams trying to topple the St Benedict Bears, with coach J.D. Eaton and company the clear-cut favourite to claim the second division SDSSAA banner, currently showing the way at 4-6-0.
In one other Division II match-up, the Manitoulin Mustangs spotted the Confederation Chargers a 2-0 first period lead, but stormed back with four unanswered goals, including a pair from Boston Thibault, doubling the home side 4-2 last Monday at the Ray Plourde Arena in Val Caron.
Ben Marshall and Lukas Abotossaway rounded out the scoring for the winners, with Matthieu Gaudreau and Jesse James Pharand countering for Confed, and Tanner McCosham chipping in with a pair of assists.
League action resumes on Monday, January 6th at the Carmichael Arena, with CND hosting Espanola and Bishop Carter facing St Charles in the traditional Monday double-header.
