Flying Dust earns Stanley Cup

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Two goals in the final eight minutes turned the tide for the Flying Dust Young Guns, allowing them to secure the championship in the 39th annual All Native Hockey Tournament, held in North Battleford March 28 to 30.

Overcoming a five-minute shorthanded situation early in the third period, the Guns gained momentum from a successful defence, though they surrendered an early powerplay goal. The winning goal came at 16:32 into the third, courtesy of forward Ryan Corrigal, who capped off a three-point night, lifting Flying Dust to a thrilling 4-3 victory against the Beardy's Blackhawks.

Corrigal, who was 12th in scoring in the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League, recording 72 points with the La Ronge Ice Wolves this season, said the victory at the Battlefords' Civic Centre was gratifying.

"They're bigger and more experienced in this tournament," said Corrigal, whose performance on the ice during the final earned him the game's Most Valuable Player honors. "These are older guys who are smarter about the game."

Corrigal's linemate, Jaime Jeannotte, also chalked up three points with a goal and two helpers. A member of the Lloydminster Blazers of the Alberta Junior Hockey League, Jeannotte noted how, as a team, Flying Dust believed it would be rewarded after playing with a man down.

"We just kept working hard and eventually the puck would go in," said Jeannotte who had 57 points in 54 games for the Blazers this season, fifth highest on that squad.

After playing one entire period of the final game with no scoring, Beardy's was the first team to post a goal in the second, when Shawn Rose received a feed from Harlan Kingfisher on a two-on-one and scored at the top of the crease on Flying Dust goalie Devin Lariviere. The Guns responded with two goals less than a minute apart on defensive breakdowns by the Hawks in their own zone, with Shawn Opekokew and Corrigal scoring.

Kingfisher scored late in the second to send the contest into the intermission tied at two. Another skater in the championship with junior experience, Kingfisher was among leading rookie scorers in the Manitoba Junior Hockey League with 31 points for the Waywayseecappo Wolverines.

The Blackhawks were granted an extended powerplay early in the third after the Guns' Sheldon Yew was penalized for interference after hitting Joseph Cote into the boards. An original penalty of two minutes was changed to a major and a game misconduct after the severity of the contact required Cote to be removed from the ice on a stretcher.

Beardy's responded just nine seconds into the man-advantage when Kingfisher, at the side of the net, banged home a loose puck for a 3-2 lead. But for the remainder of the powerplay the Hawks failed to sustain any additional pressure and only registered two more shots.

With all seven goals of the game occurring in the last half of the contest, the opening period-and-a-half was dominated by goaltending, especially by the Hawks' Adam Gardipy. In the opening frame alone he recorded several outstanding saves, including one from a shot in the slot that he snared with his glove.

An aggressive keeper with an effective poke check, Adam Gardipy challenged Flying Dust by coming out of the crease frequently, yet the two goals he surrendered in the third could hardly be blamed on him. The tying goal came when Jamie Jeannotte played the puck off the back boards when Gardipy was on the other side of the crease, while on the winning tally, Gardipy tried to stop a pass from going across to Ryan Corrigal.

"I tried to do a poke check and to stack the pads but I couldn't do anything about it," he said. With 37 saves, Gardipy was honored as the tournament's top goalie.

That this final was close was probably an indication of how evenly matched these squads were. When these teams met in the 11:30 a.m. game for the right to advance to the final, Beardy's won 6-5 in a shootout. The loss forced Flying Dust to play a 4 p.m. contest, against the Poundmaker Raider, with the winner advancing to the 7 p.m. final. For the Guns, it was their fifth game of the tournament against four for Beardy's.

Guns' coach Marcel Caron, who is in his first year with the team, said the difference was how his squad killed that powerplay in the third.

"We had a tough five (minutes) to take care of and (I said) if we get through that, this game is ours," said Caron, a 10-year coach with the senior AAA Meadow Lake Stampeders. "The boys had lots of energy after that kill."

For the win Flying Dust received $12,000 while Beardy's collected $6,000 in the 11-team tournament that featured a double-knockout system. The defending champion, Poundmaker, finished third for $4,000 while the Pelican Witchikan Blues, named as the most-sportsmanlike team, earned $3,000 for their fourth place.