Joey Payeur
There was just one story on most people’s minds the day before the final of the OFSAA ‘A/AA’ boys’ hockey tournament here: the fact the Muskie team wasn’t going to be in it (or any medal-round games for that matter).
But there was no shortage of tales to tell when likely the most exciting title game in the tournament’s history came to its spine-tingling conclusion Thursday night at the Ice For Kids Arena.
There was “Captain Clutch,” Cody McFarlane of the Belle River Nobles, zinging the only shot that beat either goalie in the five-round shootout to give the fourth-ranked Nobles a 3-2 win over the third-seeded St. Mary’s Crusaders (Hamilton) for their first-ever provincial crown.
“It hasn’t quite hit me yet. This is unreal,” McFarlane said after what was his final high school game.
“I’ve been with this team for four years now and to be able to lead this team this year is absolutely amazing.”
It was McFarlane who made it possible for the Nobles to even be at the tournament–scoring the deciding goal in a shootout in Belle River’s regional quarter-final en route to qualifying for OFSAA.
“I just took what I saw . . . shoot first,” said McFarlane, the lone player to forsake any kind of deke on his shootout try.
Instead, he elected to charge straight forward before whipping a shot over the glove of Crusaders’ goalie Jack McGovern in the third round.
There was Nobles’ goalie Patrick Timpany, who surrendered the game’s opening goal on a short-handed bullet by St. Mary’s captain Anthony Piccolo at 10:27 of the first period.
Then after a Colton O’Brien power-play wrist shot at 1:40 of the second tied the game, Timpany allowed another goal to Piccolo during a Crusaders’ power play seven minutes into the second.
But immediately after McFarlane’s shootout marker, Belle River’s netminder stared down Piccolo and left the St. Mary’s shooter to hit the post.
Timpany then forced the Crusaders’ last hope in Mitch Gordon to fire high and wide of the net to create an exuberant mountain of green-clad Nobles landing on top of him.
“Un [expletive] believable . . . oh, I guess I can’t say that,” smiled the sheepish goalie.
“The whole year was an up-and-down battle but we were always able to bounce back,” he noted.
“I was told at the beginning of the playoffs by my gym teacher, Mr. Hlady, if they don’t score, they don’t win,” Timpany added.
“I knew the guys could come back and pot a few goals if I could just hold them in.”
There was O’Brien, a Grade 10 defenceman with the steely nerves of a senior, giving his team new life with just 1:17 left in regulation time during a power play that became a 6-on-4 when Timpany was pulled for the extra attacker.
The blueliner faked a shot, stepped around a sliding defenceman, then held the puck for a split-second until the narrowest of paths to the Crusaders’ net opened up, which O’Brien used to his full advantage to whistle a shot just inside the left post.
“For a Grade 10 player, [O’Brien] is so poised,” lauded Nobles’ head coach Dave Bracken, who leads a program that had never made it past the OFSAA quarter-finals before.
“He’s really come a long way this year, and he’s been a workhorse and a warrior for us at this tournament.”
There was the crowd of roughly 800 spectators–a terrific turnout considering there wasn’t a Muskie jersey on the ice.
Belle River’s own population of 3,000 was amalgamated in 1999 with other communities into the bigger town of Lakeshore, which is located in the metropolitan area of Windsor.
Many of those 3,000 reportedly were huddled in a local Belle River establishment to watch the game being streamed online.
As it wore on, the boisterous fans at the arena, including the vanquished black-and-gold squad who showed up en masse in an admirable show of tournament spirit, threw most of their support behind the small-town crew taking on the big-city foes.
Their backing–and the efforts of Fort Frances to put on a top-quality event–were not lost on Bracken.
“Your community is truly special,” he remarked. “Everyone goes out of their way to help.
“Our boys learned a lot about life the four days we spent in the Fort.
“We flew out of Hamilton and landed in Winnipeg, and then had to bus here,” Bracken noted.
“It was about a 20-hour travel day but it certainly will not feel like that long of a trip home after this.”
In perhaps the most poignant part of an unforgettable story for the Nobles, there was Ray Bracken–standing proudly on the bench assisting his son, who was Belle River’s goalie back when the older Bracken held the coaching reins.
“We had good teams back then but we could never quite put it all together,” recalled Ray, whose post-game smile could have lit up the arena all on its own.
“It’s pretty special to be here to see [Dave] do this.”
The seventh-ranked Holy Cross Raiders (St. Catharines), who ended the Muskies’ hopes for a repeat title by blanking the host squad 2-0 in their final preliminary game last Wednesday morning, beat the 12th-ranked Immaculata Saints (Ottawa) 3-1 in the bronze-medal final earlier Thursday.
The Saints also came out of Pool ‘A,’ which contained the Muskies, as the second-place team following pool play.
