The Stoney Creek Generals are the 2018 Allan Cup Champions, winning Canada’s National Senior Championship tonight in Rosetown, SK 7-4 over the Lacombe Generals. Stoney Creek fought back from 1-0 and 4-3 deficits to beat the Alberta team, claiming their first Allan Cup in franchise history and the first for an Ontario team since the Dundas Real McCoys won as hosts in 2014.

Stoney Creek and Lacombe played earlier in the week in the round robin on Wednesday, a game won 5-3 by Lacombe. It was the same goaltending matchup in that game; as Dave Brown played every minute at the Allan Cup for Stoney Creek and Jacob Deserres was making his second start of the tournament, both starts coming against Stoney Creek. 

Lacombe scored the first goal in all three periods, but Stoney Creek kept fighting back all game long, proving their resilience and showing their skill. Tyler Donati’s goal at 5:50 of the third period stood as the game winner as Stoney Creek avenged their loss in the round robin with a 7-4 victory to win the 2018 Allan Cup. 

Lacombe opened the scoring in the first period as blueliner Ian Barteaux joined the rush and found the back of the net behind Dave Brown at 2:44. The Lacombe Generals took back to back penalties seven minutes into the period and Justin Donati made them pay with a 5 on 3 power play goal for Stoney Creek at 8:30 from Rob Hisey and Tyler Donati to tie the game at 1. Stoney Creek took their first lead as Jarrett Konkle converted a pass from the corner from Cam Fergus at 14:10 to put Stoney Creek ahead 2-1. Stoney Creek took a 2-goal lead in the final minute of the first period on the power play on a blast from the point from Sean Blanchard with assists to Fergus and Matthew Bragg at 19:09. Lacombe carried the play in the first five minutes, but Stoney Creek rebounded and scored three straight to take a 3-1 lead into the second period. Brown made 12 saves on 13 shots, while Deserres stopped 13 of the 16 shots he faced in the Lacombe net.

Similar to the first period, the Lacombe Generals came out firing in the second, but Brown made a huge save on a 2 on 1 rush to thwart the Lacombe scoring attempt and Stoney Creek was able to kill the ensuing penalty. Stoney Creek got into penalty trouble a few minutes later, giving Lacombe a 2-man advantage and Myles Bell scored at 6:12 of the second and Stoney Creek’s lead was down to 3-2. Both teams got into penalty trouble before the mid-way mark of the period and Lacombe got caught on a bad line change as Fergus and Ryan O’Marra were in all alone on the Lacombe goaltender but Deserres came up with a huge save to keep the game at 3-2 for Stoney Creek. Lacombe tied the game 3-3 on a short handed goal from Jesse Todd at 11:34 and shortly after they had a chance to take the lead on a breakaway but Brown made a huge save to keep the game tied. Unlike the first, the shots favoured Lacombe as they outshot Stoney Creek 10-5 and the teams exited the ice with the score tied 3-3 after two periods. 

The Lacombe Generals took the lead just 35 seconds into the third period as Barteaux scored his second of the game on a 3 on 1 rush to take the lead 4-3. Stoney Creek goaltender Dave Brown stopped a short handed breakaway to keep his team alive and a minute later Nathan Pageau tied the game at 4 when he ripped a shot into the back of the net at 4:33 on a pass from the corner from Bragg and Fergus. The Donati’s combined for a beauty 77 seconds later as Tyler converted a cross-ice pass from Justin to put Stoney Creek ahead 5-4. Lacombe pulled their goaltender for an extra attacker with 90 seconds left in the third and Stoney Creek’s Rob Hisey scored into the empty net with 54 seconds left to extend the lead to 6-4. Justin Sawyer rounded out the scoring with a second empty net goal in the dying seconds of the game as the Stoney Creek Generals defeated the Lacombe Generals 7-4. 

Final Score: Lacombe 4- Stoney Creek 7 (Boxscore)

For more, visit www.allancup.ca

(Photo: Doug Mathieson/Allan Cup)