Winkler Royals squeak by Ile des Chenes North Stars to win SEMHL championship

Braden Hildebrand ended a potential storybook end to the Ile des Chenes North Stars season.

The Winkler forward struck four and a half minutes into overtime of game six of the South East Manitoba Hockey League finals March 27, erasing a last minute equalizer from Josh Beauchemin to give the visitors a 4-2 series victory.

Hildebrand rushed into the left side of the zone, sniping a shot off the post behind goaltender Matthew Radomsky and into the Ile des Chenes net, giving the Royals a 4-3 win.

“Honestly, I was thinking ‘get it deep the whole time,’” Hildebrand said in the midst of the celebration.

“Then I looked up, saw there was room on the far side, it went post and in. That’s all I can say… That feels so good.”

Hildebrand played for the Altona Maroons, who had been a mainstay at the bottom of the SEMHL standings since the COVID-19 pandemic before folding entirely in 2024. Another Maroons player, defenseman Adam Henry, provided the Royals their go-ahead goal in the third period which was erased by Beauchemin.

Henry had been recognized as the league’s top defensemen for years, even though Altona didn’t find success on the ice. Henry and defense partner Justin Augert played together not only with the Maroons, but also at the University of Manitoba.

“(We’ve) played together in this league for a long time, and had not a lot of success,” Henry said.

“To do it in overtime, unreal… It makes it worth the grind, winning like that. I’m happy I stuck it out because that was fun, it was worth it.”

Caleb Paisley scored a pair for the North Stars to give them a 2-0 lead in the third period, but an explosion of three goals in three minutes, capped off by markers from Augert and Henry, flipped the game, setting up Beauchemin’s would-be heroics, as he corralled a chaotic rebound in front of the Winkler net to tie the game.

“They’re so hard to play against,” Hildebrand said.

“We worked hard the whole series. They worked hard the whole series. Two good goalies.”

Steinbach’s Matthew Thiessen was named the SEMHL’s playoff most valuable player. The goaltender, who now lives in Winkler, posted a 10-3 record, with a save percentage above 0.940 and four shutouts.

“We came together like a true team and a brotherhood,” Thiessen said.

“When they score with 6.5 seconds left, you really don’t know what’s going to come of it, but everyone was just like, ‘we have to re-focus.’ As hard as it was, we re-focused.”

Thiessen leaned on his years of experience, admitting it was “pretty tough,” to forget about giving up a last-minute equalizer in a championship clinching game.

“Once we got in the locker room, took a spray of water, and went on after that, it was a lot better,” he said.

“It’s something you have to do… You learn how to get out there and have fun.”

The former Pistons standout is one of two players from the junior A team to be drafted directly in the NHL entry draft. He now is Steinbach’s goalie coach.

The Flyers will face the Killarney Shamrocks in the provincial final, with a game in Winkler April 9. Killarney defeated the Hartney Blues 3-1 in the winner-takes-all game five to win their second consecutive Tiger Hills Hockey League title March 26.