The Northern Alberta Xtreme (NAX) captured their first ever Canadian Sport School Hockey
League (CSSHL) U17 Prep Western Championship Wednesday with an exciting 3-2 overtime
win over the defending champions, Delta Hockey Academy.
This was the first season NAX competed in the U17 Prep division. It also marks their third
championship of the 2023 Playoffs as the NAX U15 and U15 Prep teams won their divisions
earlier this week.
NAX became the first CSSHL program to capture three CSSHL League Championships in one
season. Multiple programs including NAX and Delta have won two championships in a single
season.
It did not take long for action to kick off after puck drop at the U17 Western Championship
finals. Both teams made it here off of their goal scoring prowess, but it was the goaltending
shining through in the first period with Delta’s Armaan Kaila (30/33) and NAX’s Jordan Switzer
(29/31) making 8-crucial saves a piece, leaving both teams scoreless through 20 minutes.
Much more of the same can be said about the following frame. Delta & NAX’s hard-nosed
defence and dialled in goaltending made scoring a luxury. NAX would ultimately get into
penalty trouble halfway through the period, having to fend off a 5-on-3 for nearly a minute and a
half. NAX would later be awarded for their defensive endeavours, securing one on a 4-minute powerplay of their own thanks to the stick of Luke Powell.
Play would begin to open up in the third where Delta’s previous overtime hero, Isa Guram,
would pot one home on the powerplay with a rocket off of the right-hand circle. This would start
a momentum swing for Delta’s U17 squad that would carry through a majority of the period.
With around 4-minutes to go in the third, Delta would squeeze another past Switzer thanks to
their captain, Nash Holmes.
NAX would begin to heat up their play amidst those final minutes, and after relentless pressure
and forecheck, Lukas Kaplan would be rewarded on the doorstep with the game-tying goal with
only 57-seconds left in regulation.
Overtime would end shortly after puck drop. After a few chances deep in Delta’s end, NAX
would get one more entry rush where after a Jaxen Gauchier shot, Finn Kallay would bury home
the OT winner to close the U17 Western Championships.