As the scoresheet would say, this was a back-and-forth affair with many ups and downs as play chugged along.
Champions Hockey Academy (CHA) had the upper hand on Bishop’s College after the opening twenty, as Declan Kennedy put CHA on the map with a powerplay goal to round out the first.
Into the second, CHA would double their lead as Jackson Shaddick (1G, 2A) capitalized shorthanded. However, shortly after this marker, Nate Ostridge would get Bishop’s College on the board with his fourth of the playoffs. Just a couple minutes later, Dominic Schnarr (3G, 1A) would tie things up off of a breakaway in close, benefiting off a poor CHA line change. CHA would strike back with a pair, both coming off the stick of Lucas Stevenson (2G) to restore their two goal lead. Bishop’s College would substitute Timofey Williams (16/19) in net for Felix-Antoine Émond (17/20) after succumbing to CHA’s third goal.
Tensions would begin to flare after CHA’s two goal spurt, but both teams would keep their composure heading forward as each team would trade goals once more before the end of the second, leaving CHA on top by a score of 5-3.
Into the final frame, Bishop’s College came out and stated their intentions immediately as Schnarr completed his hat-trick just 54-seconds into the period. Later in the frame, Zach Jockers (2G) would round out the scoring for Bishop’s tying everything up at 5-5 with just over ten minutes to go in the period. A few minutes later Bishop’s Brandon Fuicelli deflected home the go ahead goal, giving Bishop’s their first lead of the game after being down by as much as two goals on two separate occasions. However, CHA wouldn’t back down and they would go on to snag a fortunate deflection themselves as Ty Mulcahy (1G, 1A) tipped home Will Carroll’s (3A) point shot. This would be enough to force sudden death overtime.
Just 24-seconds into the extra frame, Zachary Roussy would find Jockers down low. Jockers would make a quick move to the net where he would slide one on goal where it would fortunately graze past Scott LeBlanc (14/16) and clinch Bishop’s their first ever league title in CSSHL competition.
