PHOTO courtesy icelevel.com
Carlos Verde
CARLETON PLACE, ONT. —
A Zach Tupker finish from close range at 2:22 of overtime on Sunday afternoon blew the roof off the Carleton Place Arena, where the hometown Canadians were crowned 2017 Bogart Cup CCHL champions following a 4-3 Game-5 overtime win against the Ottawa Jr. Senators.
In taking the CCHL final four games to one, the Canadians became just the second team in the CCHL’s 56-year history to win four-straight league championships (Pembroke 2007-11).
“It’s so special,” said Carleton Place head coach Jason Clarke. “You think back to eight years ago, when we started this franchise, and for us to win four in a row is unbelievable. There’s so many good people in our organization, so many people that have helped us through the good times and bad times.”
The visitors from Ottawa drew first blood in Sunday’s contest when Nicolas Samson knocked a loose puck past Canadians goaltender Connor Hughes.
Carleton Place responded eight minutes into the middle frame, when Zach Tupker banged his own rebound beyond Jr. Sens netminder Ian Andriano.
The Canadians then doubled their lead less than two minutes later, when Andrew Dodson rifled a powerplay wrist shot past Andriano to give CP its first lead of the night.
Alex Way responded for Ottawa at the 13:36 mark, popping home a short-range effort on the powerplay to tie proceedings at two.
The wild second period continued some five minutes later when Canadians defenceman Antoine Desmeules snuck a point shot through a mass of bodies and past Andriano to restore the Carleton Place lead.
A Thomas Stevenson goal just 3:12 into the third period brought Ottawa back to level terms, with the rest of the third period passing with relatively little incident.
Tupker’s second of the night, a tidy finish from the low slot, in overtime clinched the rare four-peat for Jason Clarke’s franchise.
“Ottawa’s a first-class opponent,” reflected Clarke, whose team also defeated the Jr. Senators in the 2016 Bogart Cup. “They’ve got good kids, people and players on that team, and it was a good series.”
The Canadians will now have a week to heal up ahead of what promises to be a challenging Fred Page Cup in Terrebonne, Quebec.
“We’ve been there three years in a row now, so we have a schedule and we know what to expect going forward,” said Clarke. “We’re pretty banged up right now, so a week break will be good for us.”
SERIES NOTES
All four of Carleton Place’s victories were one-goal decisions…CP goaltender Connor Hughes was named Bogart Cup MVP…Ottawa forward Chiwetin Blacksmith was scratched prior to Game 5…
