The third time was the charm for the Stoney Creek Generals as they defeated the South East Prairie Thunder 5-2 tonight in Rosetown, SK at the 2018 Allan Cup to advance to the Championship Game on Saturday night. Stoney Creek and South East met in last year’s Allan Cup in the round robin, a game won 3-0 by the Prairie Thunder despite Stoney Creek outshooting them 41-23 as goaltender Steve Christie and the Prairie Thunder got the best of the Generals, but tonight the Generals got their revenge. 

In their third straight trip to the Allan Cup, the Stoney Creek Generals will play in the Final for the first time as they look to win their first Allan Cup in team history and the first for Ontario since the Dundas Real McCoys won on home ice in 2014. In 2016 in Steinbach, MB the Generals lost in the Quarterfinals to Shellbrook 7-4, and in 2017 in Bouctouche, NB they were knocked out in the Quarterfinals by the host team 1-0 in overtime. 

For the second straight game the Generals got out to an early lead as Igor Gongalsky scored on the power play at 5:06 from Nick Tuzzolino and Justin Donati. Rob Hisey put Stoney Creek up 2-0 at 11:59 of the first with Jarrett Konkle and Tuzzolino picking up assists. Tyler Dittmer scored four minutes later for the Prairie Thunder and narrowed the score to 2-1 for Stoney Creek. Neither team was able to score the rest of the period as Dave Brown stopped 13 of the 14 shots he faced in the Generals’ net while his South East counterpart Steve Christie stopped seven of the nine shots he faced. 

Tyler Donati restored the 2-goal lead for the Generals at 13:37 of the second period with help from Hisey and Matthew Bragg. Donati’s marker was the lone goal of the second as once again South East outshot Stoney Creek 13-11 but Brown stood tall in net for the Generals. 

In the third period Justin Donati scored an important insurance goal at 13:10 from Tyler Donati and Cam Fergus to put the Generals up 4-1. South East’s Reid Gow scored at 15:36 to narrow the Generals’ lead to 2 and despite some powerplay opportunities for the Prairie Thunder; that was as close as they would get as Stoney Creek’s Ryan O’Marra iced the game with an empty net goal with 25 seconds left to secure the 5-2 win for the Generals. The Generals were outshot 37-26 to turn the tables on the Prairie Thunder and avenge their loss in Bouctouche last year.

The Generals will now wait and see who they play in Saturday’s Final as the Lacombe Generals and Elsipogtog Hawks face-off at 10:00 PM EST tonight in the second Semifinal. Saturday’s Final will be broadcast live on TSN2 at 10:00 PM EST. 

Final Score: South East 2 - Stoney Creek 5 (Boxscore)

For more, visit www.allancup.ca

(Photo: Doug Mathieson/Allan Cup)