ALBERTON, P.E.I. — The Western Regals were looking for redemption in Ottawa on Sunday and they found it.
The Regals, making their first-ever visit to the 89-team Capital Winter Classic, found themselves in first place after round-robin play in the 11-team Major Midget AA Division with a 3-1 (won-lost) record.
Their lone round-robin loss, though, was a big one – a 7-1 defeat at the hands of the Nepean Raiders – in their second last round-robin outing.
“We forgot about that loss pretty quickly and turned our attention to that last round-robin game and then, after that, we just took it one game at a time,” said Regals head coach Jason Smallman.
The Regals knocked off the Kanata Blazers 4-1 in the semifinal and then posted a 4-1 win over the Raiders in the championship final.
Sam Hackett gave the Regals a 1-0 lead on a power-play goal in the first period. The Raiders tied the game with a power-play goal in the second period and Ethan Reilly scored the game-winner for the Regals early in the third. Kalim DesRoches and Hackett added insurance markers.
Mission accomplished.
“Hats off to the boys. They responded as best they could after that loss,” Smallman said. “We all wanted to play (the Raiders) in the final; we wanted that redemption game as we were calling it.”
The championship was almost an all-P.E.I. final, which Smallman acknowledged would have been pretty special. The Raiders, however, scored late in overtime to win their semifinal game 1-0 over the Robin’s Mid-Isle Matrix.
Smallman is willing to grant the Matrix an assist in the Regals’ championship victory.
“(The Matrix) gave them a hard game, a tight-checking game. It may have worn them down a bit for us.”
The Matrix currently holds down first place in the P.E.I. Midget AAA Hockey League and the Regals are in the middle of a tight three-way race for second place. Smallman suggested the results of the Ottawa tournament will be a good confidence booster for his club heading into the second half of the regular season.
“It brought the team closer together,” he added. “Being on a bus 15, 16 hours, it made the team, I thought, closer. They got to know each other more.”
Top Performers
The Western Regals’ Michael McRae won the Major Midget AA Division points race in the Capital Winter Classic with four goals and nine points.
Teammates Chandler DesRoches, who had five goals and three assists, and Kalim DesRoches (4-4) finished in a three-way tie for second with eight points each.
Nylan Hustler had three goaltending wins and Turner Ellis picked up two victories between the pipes for the Regals in the Ottawa tournament.
