It's been a long three years of hockey for the Lakeshore Canadiens but putting in the extra work has been well worth the reward. "You watch everyone else start golfing and you watch all of these other people getting ready for summer and you're still playing it becomes a grind but our guys battle through it. You could tell they wanted to win." said head coach Anthony Iaquita whose team won the Schmalz Cup for the second time in three years.
The Canadiens look forward to hanging a new banner at the Atlas Tube later this year after beating the Clarington Eagles 5-4 Friday night on the road to win the best-of-seven championship series 4-1. "It feels amazing, doing it with this group of guys is something special and I'm just so proud of everyone," said team captain Marco Sladoje who scored a pair of second period goals to ignite his team, who were trailing 2-0 after the first. "It was a long season and I really want to soak this one in."
With the game tied at three heading into the third, Trevor Larue scored at 1:19 to break the deadlock on the powerplay at 1:19. He then assisted on Eric Bisson's goal, with the man-advantage, at 3:09 for a 5-3 lead. "It's amazing to be able to cap off such an amazing season with a great group of guys the way we did." Larue told Powerplay Sports after winning a championship for the third straight spring.
He won the Schmalz Cup with the Canadiens in 2022 and the Sutherland Cup with the Leamington Flyers last year. "I'm still processing this one so I'm not sure what's next for me," Larue said. "Definitely gonna make sure my teammates enjoy themselves these next couple of days."
The celebration began after the final buzzer when the team handed the cup to the parents of Sylvain Lessard during the post game ceremony. The 20-year old lost his life in crash last October on County Road 42. "Travelled with us from the first round all the way to the last here," Iaquinta said of the Lessards. "Obviously we wish that Syl could be a part of it. They're a huge part of our team. We're so thankful they came and we hope they felt the love from our end."
The following is raw video and a picture gallery from Game 5 courtesy of Olivia Yetman. Powerplay Sports thanks her for the effort put in to gather memories players and fans can enjoy and cherish for years to come.
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