St Malo Warriors up 3-2 in CRJHL finals

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This article was published 04/04/2024 (794 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

What a difference a week can make.

When the final horn sounded in Beausejour March 23, the St Malo Warriors trailed 2-0 in the best-of-seven Capital Region Junior Hockey League finals.

A week later the Warriors are a single win away from clinching their first CRJHL championship, winning those three games over the Beausejour Comets by a combined 14 goals.

St Malo head coach and general manager Ralph Collette credited his team’s experience in big-time playoff series as the spark that ignited the comeback.

“Our veterans stepped up and tried to keep the newer guys calm,” Collette said after a 3-1 win in game five.

“We knew we had the firepower to come back… We played game three as if we were down 3-0. We needed to play desperate to get back in the series. Once we did that the guys got confidence.”

Game three was an obvious turning point. Down in the series, St Malo put together an offensive explosion. Led by Teagan and Logan Fillion, who combined for five goals, the Warriors jumped out to a 9-0 lead en route to a 10-2 blowout victory.

A solid 5-1 win in game four in Beausejour March 30 was followed by a grinding 3-1 decision on home ice in St Malo April 2.

The game five victory was a game split in two by the first intermission. The Warriors looked completely dominant, out-shooting the Comets 17-6, but could only muster a 2-0 lead after 20 minutes.

From there the game got chippy, with a feisty Beausejour club frustrating St Malo, drawing five penalties. It was a rough and tumble final 40 minutes, but Beausejour could only beat goaltender Logan Mazinke once, as Keston Worley sealed the game with an empty net marker.

“It seemed like the guys very frustrated, and when you’re frustrated you don’t play your game,” Collette said.

“We had to calm them down, that’s for sure.”

Injuries forced Collette to drastically shorten his bench in the third period. When defenseman Ben Dias had to be helped to the locker room when his head bounced off the ice during a hard fall, Braeden McFarlane moved back to play defense.

“Because we broke up that line, we didn’t feel it was fair to have the two young guys with that responsibility,” Collette said.

“They were fine with it, they understand their roles at this stage of the game.”

Collette said he expects a “so-called zoo or madhouse” inside the SunGro Centre in Beausejour for game six, and hopes his team can bring the same level of intensity.

“We need to play the same kind of game in the first period, and maybe pot in a few quick goals and maybe quiet the crowd,” he said.

“We have to play as if it’s a game seven. Of course we feel confident with a game seven coming back to St Malo, but anything can happen in game seven and we all know that.”

Game six will go April 5 at 8 p.m. in Beausejour. If a game seven is needed, it will take place on April 7 at 3 p.m. in St Malo.