NORTH BATTLEFORD ‑ The Meota Combines have won the SPHL title in a thrilling game five at Access Communications Centre.
The Combines beat the Turtleford Tigers in the deciding game of the best-of-five series by a 4-3 final score, coming back from a first period deficit to get the win.
The win caps a dominant season for the Combines, who nevertheless got a scare from Turtleford in the league finals after the Tigers won two of the first three games. But the Combines took the fourth and fifth games to win it all.
In the decisive fifth game, Meota got the opening goal at the 5:17 mark of the first period from Bo Gervais on a play where it appeared a broken stick distracted the goaltender. Brett Miller and Aaron Cadrin assisted.
Turtleford tied it up midway through the period on a goal by Dustin Macnab. Then the Tigers took the lead soon after with a goal from Mitch Perkins on a pass from Lyndyn Domotor with 5:32 left in the period. That would be all the scoring through period one.
In the second period Meota tied it up on a goal by Michael Pylypow from Ty Anderson.
Riley Albert then put the Combines in front with a goal at the 8:01 mark of the period, with assists from Justin Waskewitch and Kyle Gregoire.
Meota extended it to 4-2 on a goal by Boyd Wakelin with 7:46 remaining, with the assist from Gregoire.
The Tigers’ Austin McDonald cut the lead to a goal with 4:56 left in the period, for a 4-3 score through two periods.
As it turned out that would be all the scoring in the game. Meota survived a Turtleford power play and the extra attacker with an empty net in the final minutes, to hang on for the 4-3 win to capture the cup.
The Combines hoisted the cup on home ice, much to the delight of the large crowd in attendance. The Combines' Riley Albert was named MVP.
It is the Combines' second league title in the SPHL. The win also erases the memories of the 2020 finals when the Combines stood on the brink of winning the cup with a 2-0 lead on the Battleford Beaver Blues, only for the rest of the series to be cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Thursday night marked the first time the SPHL has awarded a winning team the cup since the Battleford Beaver Blues won the title in 2019.
