Joey Payeur
It was the ultimate birthday present for Davis Ross—and it hardly mattered it came a day late.
“I still can’t believe it,” said the Fort Frances native and defenceman for the Portage Terriers, who won their first national Junior ‘A’ hockey title since 1973 with a 5-2 win over the Carleton Place Canadians on Sunday in the final of the RBC Cup in Portage la Prairie, Man.
“It hasn’t set in yet. It’s crazy.”
Portage is the first Manitoba team to win the title since the Selkirk Steelers in 1974—and the first home team to do so since the Weyburn Red Wings in 2005.
Carleton Place, which lost 4-3 to the Yorkton Terriers in last year’s final, had blanked Portage 3-0 in the round-robin portion of the tourney in both teams’ first game.
But when the ultimate showdown was all over, the Canadians became the first team to lose the national final in back-to-back seasons.
In the handshake line afterwards, Ross shared a hug with Canadians’ forward Jordan Larson, whom he shared many on-ice memories with while teammates growing up in the Fort Frances Minor Hockey Association.
“I was glad to see him do well but obviously I wanted to win the game,” Ross said about Larson, whose double-overtime goal pushed Carleton Place past the Penticton Vees 2-1 in their semi-final showdown the previous night.
“He just said ‘Congratulations’ and I said ‘I’ll see you at home,’” Ross added.
“We’re good buds.”
Ross, who marked turning 20 on Saturday by helping the Terriers beat the Melfort Mustangs 6-1 in their semi-final pairing, had a big hand in Sunday’s game, which was broadcast live on TSN.
The defenceman scored on a rebound at 2:42 of the second period to make it 2-0 in front of a sell-out crowd of more than 2,500 at the PCU Centre.
“There was a turnover in the neutral zone and I had some free space in front of me,” recalled Ross, the twin brother of Fort Frances Lakers’ forward Nolan Ross.
“I got over the line and dropped a pass to Shawn [Bowles] and he made a nice pass to ‘Grayser’ [Garick Gray] in front,” he added.
“He had a nice shot and I had the wide-open net.
“That’s a set play where you’re supposed to keep going to the net to bring the defenceman with you,” Ross explained.
The goal was Ross’ only one of the tournament—and was a bonus offensive contribution after he only had four goals during the regular season as the Terriers destroyed the rest of the MJHL en route to a 74-6-4 record overall.
Trailing 5-1, the Canadians added a meaningless tally with a minute to go—meaningless except for the fact it deprived Ross of being credited with the game-winning goal.
“It’s not a big deal,” Ross shrugged.
“We got the win.”
Ross was on the ice for the final seconds—actually shifted into the right-winger’s role for his last shift—as time ticked off the clock and the Portage bench raced to mob goalie Zac Robidoux.
“I was the last one to shed my stuff,” said Ross.
“I just threw my helmet as high in the air as I could.”
Ross, meanwhile, was grateful for the immense crowd support throughout the week—and the season—from the Portage fans who were on hand for an occasion more than four decades in the making.
“It was really nice to have the fan support in your home barn and watch the community come together to enjoy the win,” he remarked.
Among the merry masses was a bevy of Ross’ family members.
“I’ve got to say my family is the biggest reason I’m here,” he acknowledged.
“My dad, Monty, and my uncle, Greg, are probably the two biggest reasons this happened.”
With still one more year of junior eligibility, Ross isn’t afraid to dream about a repeat, although Portage will have to replace nine players whose junior eligibility has ended.
“To go back-to-back would be amazing,” he enthused.
Ross wasn’t certain what the victory celebration in Portage would entail or whether he’ll be able to bring the RBC Cup home to Fort Frances for a day, like is done by winners of the Stanley Cup.
“I’m not sure how that works but it would be great if I could do that,” he said.
