The Theodore Buffalos have earned the first provincial title in their half-century history.
The Buffs are Saskatchewan Provincial 鈥楥鈥� champions after defeating the Drake Canucks in the best-of-three final.
鈥淚t鈥檚 our first provincial title going back probably 50-years,鈥� said the team鈥檚 long-time head coach Dick Onslow. 鈥淭his is probably the best team we鈥檝e ever had for provincials.鈥�
Two seasons ago the team made the provincial 鈥楧鈥� final, but fell in two straight games to Kyle.
Drake had won game one in Theodore 6-1, and headed home Friday looking to wrap up the title.
The game on Drake ice was an offensive storm as the Buffalos faced elimination in game two of the series in Drake.
The first period was a teeter-totter affair, with the Canucks striking first on a goal by Matthew Spafford.
Josh Garbutt tied the contest for Theodore.
Carter Coben restored a home team lead.
John Neibrandt evened things.
Then Cam Blair then scored for Drake to send the teams to the dressing room after 20-minutes with the Canucks up 3-2.
Merit Meyer extended the lead to 4-2 earlier in the second stanza.
But then it was a Buffs period as Jeremy Johnson scored a pair, and Garbutt added his second of the night for a 5-4 Theodore lead through two periods.
Jimmy Bubnick drew the Canucks to within one with a goal early in the third to tie the game 5-5.
Derrick Schwartz got that one back for the Buffalos making it 6-5.
Cam Blair responded for Drake to again knot the score, this time at sixes.
Schwartz would score his second of the night to make it 7-6 Theodore. It would prove the game-winner, with Johnson completing his hat trick to make it an 8-6 final.
Kevin Dziaduck was in net for the Buffalos in the win, while Calvin Bartel took the loss for Drake.
Onslow said the while 鈥淒rake is a very skilled team,鈥� in their home rink 鈥渕aybe they took us a little bit lightly.鈥�
The Buffalo win was the first lost Drake had suffered after 13 straight wins in league and provincial playoffs dating back until February, said Onslow.
The Buffalo win sent the teams back to Theodore for the deciding game Sunday.
The Canucks took the lead with the only goal of the opening period from the stick of Brendan Dowd at 16:09.
Logan Calanchie had the second period鈥檚 lone marker at 13:34 to send the teams to the final stanza deadlocked 1-1.
Onslow said Calanchie鈥檚 goal midway through the second period 鈥渟eemed to elevate our whole bench.鈥�
It was beginning to look like overtime would be needed, but Jeremy Johnson found the game-winner for the Buffalos at 14:17.
Onslow said as the game entered the final 10-minutes there was a definite overtime feel, recognizing the tie breaking goal was likely going to win the game, and the series.
The win sent the arena into a frenzy of celebration, with family and friends pouring onto the ice for congratulatory hugs and tons of photos.
鈥淲e were probably on the ice an hour and a half,鈥� said Onslow.
Friends and families then followed the team to the dressing room for more celebrations, spreading from there to carry on until 鈥渢he wee hours,鈥� he said.
The provincial banner is now at the Onslow home waiting for the team鈥檚 awards night Friday.
鈥淚 just might sleep with it tonight,鈥� he said.
Triangle League final
For the second year in a row, the Rocanville Tigers are Emile Balogh Champions of the Triangle Hockey League.
Devin LeBlanc scored three goals, capping his incredible run of 17 goals in 11 games during the postseason, leading the Tigers to a 6-2 win over the Theodore Buffalos on Wednesday night and winning the best of five series 3-games-to-2, detailed www.trianglehockey.ca
LeBlanc opened the scoring early in the first when he sprung himself free on a breakaway and went top shelf on Kevin Dziaduck.聽
The Buffs tied it when John Neibrandt fired a point shot off a face off and it looked like it was going to be a defensive struggle from that point as there wasn鈥檛 another goal until midway through the second, detailed the site.
Stephane Fouillard pinched in from the point and blasted a shot over Dziaduck to make it 2-1. Brett Hope finished off a 3-on-1 shortly after that to increase the advantage to 3-1.
In the third, LeBlanc ripped a shot from the right of the Buffs net to make it 4-1, taking advantage of a Rocanville powerplay. Then, it was LeBlanc scoring his hat trick goal into an empty net to make it 5-1 late in the third. Garrett Fraser got credit for a goal in the final moments as Dziaduck made a blocker save on the shot, but the puck ended up high in the air and was going to land behind him in the net and on the clearing attempt by the defenseman, it was gloved into the mesh by accident, reported the website.
Cody Zubko capped the scoring with 8-seconds to go as he found the five hole on Scott Shivak, who played a solid game, behind a defense that didn鈥檛 give the Buffs many opportunities to excite a capacity crowd, noted the league website.
鈥淚t seemed like we just didn鈥檛 have enough fuel in the tank,鈥� offered Onslow.
It鈥檚 the second straight title for the Tigers, who also beat Theodore last year in the final.聽
