MARYSTOWN, NL – The Marystown Central High School hockey team was treated to a hero’s welcome this past weekend when players returned from St. John’s as Confederation Cup champions.
The team, which competed in tier two competition, faced off against Deer Lake’s Elwood Lakers in the championship game held Feb. 11 at Mile One Centre.
Joe Strickland, assistant coach for the Clippers, said the final between the two teams was a close game right down to the end.
“In the round robin we played Deer Lake and we tied them 2-2, so we knew it was going to be a good game,” he told the Southern Gazette.
“In the final, it was a scoreless game after three periods. We went to a scoreless overtime and then we went into a shoot-out.”
The teams were tied 1-1 after the first three shooters, forcing another round.
“After the first three shooters, the same shooters can shoot again, so Patrick Farrell shot second, and he shot again in fifth,” said Strickland.
That was the deciding goal for the game, giving the Clippers a 1-0 win over the Lakers.
Strickland said going into the cup, some players had not played a lot of contact hockey before the tournament, “so that was a bit of an issue for us.”
Having competed in a tournament in Grand Falls-Windsor, players had a chance to play some contact hockey, “but still … our (players) were relatively new to it because it’s not something they’ve done in the past for most of them, but I must say as each game went they got better and better and the contact didn’t become an issue.”
Strickland said the team played extremely well during its three games on Feb. 10.
“When Sunday came I think both teams in the championships were fairly tired after playing a lot of hockey,” said Strickland. “But the boys were exceptionally well-behaved, played as a team and we had strong goaltending as well…we had a good team over all – from the back-end to the front-end, the team was really strong.”
No “I” in team
Patrick Farrell said throughout the tournament all members played together for a common goal.
“The team effort throughout the entire tournament to get us to that championship was unreal, we were all so tired and a lot were injured, and our goalie kept us in the game.”
Farrell said he wanted to win the game not only for himself but for his team.
“To score the game winner and make the Clippers the champions is a feeling like no other.”
