Fowlie’s heroics give Ste Anne Aces SEMHL 3-peat

It’s a moment every hockey player dreams of from the moment they pick up a stick to knock a tennis ball around in their driveway. It’s game seven of overtime, with a chance to single-handedly win a championship.

For the Ste Anne Aces’ Cody Fowlie, he got to live that childhood dream, striking a few minutes into overtime of the South East Manitoba Hockey League finals March 23 to give the Aces a 6-5 victory over the Springfield Winterhawks and their third consecutive SEMHL championship.

Fowlie picked up the puck at the side of the net, and drove across the crease on his forehand, slipping the puck to the far side of Steve Christie, setting off jubilant celebrations at the packed Maurice Chaput Arena.

“I turned and I just knew I had to take it to the net,” Fowlie said on the ice after the championship.

“I managed to freeze the goalie a little bit and tuck it in. It worked out great… (It’s) an amazing feeling. It’s something we dream about our whole lives. It’s a special moment for sure.”

The only way Fowlie got that chance was thanks to the team’s star forward, Brenden Walker. Walker took advantage of a late Winterhawks hooking penalty, snapping home a cross-ice pass from the face-off dot to tie the game with under two minutes to go in the third period.

“I practice that shot about seven times in warm up so I hope I can hit it one time in the game,” Walker said.

“It was awesome. I made a good connection with that puck and I saw it going in, I was like, ‘yeah, that’s good.’”

Walker barely cracked a smile on his way back to the bench, focused on the task at hand to get the overtime winner.

“There was actually no doubt in my mind what was going to happen,” he said.

“I knew how this was going to play out, it’s just the way it’s supposed to be scripted, this is exactly how it’s supposed to happen. It’s good for the league, it’s good for everyone. This is an amazing feeling and I can’t wait to do it again next year.”

The Winterhawks nearly took the lead on the shift after Walker’s tying goal, getting chance after chance while Ste Anne scrambled to clear the puck as the clock ticked down. The Aces managed to survive the onslaught, setting up a historic overtime win.

It was Springfield’s first year in the SEMHL, and it could only be counted as a success, pushing the two-time champions to overtime in game seven of the finals. It seems like half of the Winterhawks line-up is former Ste Anne players, with Walker saying this championship felt all the more sweeter coming over players who left the Aces.

“They want to go play on another team, we’re just going to add more guys and have more fun with it and dominate,” Walker said, as a teammate walked by calling him “the GOAT,” (greatest of all time).

The series should turn what had been a burgeoning rivalry into a full-blown one, with Walker adding the overall level of play should “amp” up senior hockey across Manitoba.

“They’re a great hockey team,” Fowlie said.

“It took everything we had. We went to the absolute limit, so did they. So a lot of respect to them and the team they put together this year.”

While the Aces have claimed the SEMHL championship for three straight years, the team is also working on a streak of seven straight finished seasons with a league title. Ste Anne won four straight Carillon Senior Hockey League trophies before the COVID-19 pandemic ended the league, forcing teams to join the SEMHL.

No Aces player saw more ice time than defenseman Brett Lernout, who averaged over 35 minutes per game for Ste Anne throughout the finals.

“It’s a crazy series, it was a war,” Lernout said.

“Credit to Springfield, they played their asses off… To come to game seven like this and win like that in front of our home fans is crazy.”

There nearly wasn’t a game seven to be played. The Winterhawks stole game five in Ste Anne March 19, with Keith Grondin one-timing home an overtime winner to give Springfield a 3-2 series edge.

In game six, hosted at the Oakbank Arena March 21, the Winterhawks stormed back to tie the game after falling behind 6-2, only for Fowlie to pick up the game-winner. Adam Hughesman made a spectacular play at the offensive blue-line, turning a two-on-two rush into a two-on-one, setting up Fowlie for an easy goal.

Walker added not just an insurance empty netter, but sent a message to the Winterhawks, winding up for a massive slapshot just a few feet in front of the empty cage, adding fuel to an already hot game seven. Fans were packing into both buildings for the finals, with fire code capacity appearing to be reached in both rinks.

The Aces are now waiting for the winner of the Tiger Hills Hockey League finals between Virden and Killarney. The two-time provincial champions Minota/Elkhorn C-Hawks dropped out of the league after being unable to ice a team this season, with many players transferring to Virden. The C-Hawks beat Ste Anne two years in a row in the provincial final.

“We need to step up here and really take it to the West,” Walker said.

“It’s going to be a lot of fun, I can’t wait to play them.”

The SEMHL and THHL take turns being the home team in a best-of-three series every year, with Ste Anne set to host games one and three (if necessary). Game one is scheduled for Sunday, March 30 at the Ste Anne arena with puck drop at 3:30 p.m. The past two years, the Aces have played games in Transcona and Niverville in the provincial finals, with this year the team able to play a true home game in Ste Anne.

For more photos from game five, six and seven of the championship, be sure to check out The Carillon’s Second Shots feature, published the Wednesday following each edition of the print edition.