Royals prevail

Four hours after defeating the Laval-North Cobras 4-3 in a double overtime nail-biter, the Junior AA West Island Royals faced an even tougher task in the finals of Montreal-North’s 44th Annual Atom-Junior Hockey Tournament. At 6:30 Sunday evening they faced the second ranked team in the province and hometown favorite, the Montreal-North Nordiques.

The teams were well matched, separated only by a single goal thanks to Royals defenseman Colin O’Rourke, who snuck one in from the point near the end of the first period. The rest of the game was a seesaw battle, with the home team enjoying five power plays, including two extended five on threes. Give credit to the West Island penalty killers, who did an excellent job defending under these circumstances. Laurence Mauricio was particularly strong in this area, especially on the first two-man advantage. While his contributions didn’t appear on the stat sheet, his presence was felt every time he was on the ice.

Without a doubt, the play of the game was a spectacular save made by Royals goalie Josh Brassard with 15 seconds to go. The play came during a flurry of activity deep in the Royals zone, as Montreal-North iced an extra attacker to try to push the game into overtime. With time winding down, one of the Nordiques had a gaping net to shoot at, but his one-timer was denied as Brassard whipped out the left pad to shut him down. The rebound bounced directly to teammate Jeremy Belliveau, who sealed the victory with an empty net goal to make it 2-0.

Following a ceremony in which Fabien Babineau was awarded player of the game, Captain Benoit Laporte hoisted the championship trophy towards the rafters before passing it along to eager teammates. The first place finish should vault the #6 ranked Royals to near the top of the provincial standings.