Patriotes claim NDA championship at home — PHOTO GALLERY
Posted By KEN PAGAN, THE NUGGET
Updated 5 months ago
STURGEON FALLS — Franco-Cite Patriotes captain Pascal Seguin said Sunday's victory is something he and his teammates will always remember.
Less than 24 hours after forcing a third and deciding game, the Patriotes wrapped up the NDA hockey championship on home ice, skating to a 7-5 win over the Widdifield Wildcats to claim the school's first Nugget Shield since 1995.
Michel Dumont and Eric Arcand each scored twice for the Patriotes, who took a 5-1 lead into a wild third period before hanging on for the win in front of more than 400 fans.
"It's just awesome," Seguin said after celebrating on the ice with teammates. "All year, they (the fans) have been helping us out. It's just so awesome to win it, especially since it's been 15 years since Franco won it.
"We're going to remember this. This is history for our school."
The Patriotes had dropped the series-opener 3-1 Tuesday night at home, before bouncing back with a 7-5 win in Game 2 at Memorial Gardens, Saturday night.
"We were used to playing with pressure all year," Seguin said. "Against Ferris (in the semifinals), we lost the first game. We trailed a lot of games until the third period, and then we'd come out and play, I guess that's how we roll.
"It makes it better to win this in front of our fans, too."
Alain Desbois and Dumont scored as the Patriotes built a 2-1 lead in the first period, with Cam Gummo scoring for the Wildcats. Franco-Cite took the game over in the second period on goals by Arcand, Dumont and Jacob Proulx to take a 5-1 lead into the final frame.
"The second period, we started hitting more and we just had everything going and we weren't making mistakes," Seguin said. "In the third, we were scrambling a bit, but we pulled it off."
The Wildcats kept things interesting in the third, with Cam Ladouceur scoring on the opening shift to make it 5-2 and Mark Schoen burying a wraparound to make it 5-3 with 14:11 left. Pat Rideout added a short-handed goal on a breakaway and Tanner Brunet tapped in a loose puck, but goals by Arcand and Jean-Philippe Primeau helped seal the deal for the Patriotes as goaltender Patrick Labelle secured the win.
"It's an incredible feeling," said Patriotes coach Marcel Senecal. "The guys are excited, everybody's excited. To win it at home is special.
"We were ready today. We skated hard and whatever they had left, they gave, because this was it. They never gave up. Both series, they were down the first game and they never gave up."
The Wildcats appeared to add a sixth goal with 3:40 remaining when the puck deflected in off Paygibe Wabano's skate, but it was ruled the puck was kicked in. Had the goal stood, it would have made for a frantic finish, but Wildcats head coach Bruce Cazabon said his team shouldn't expect to win by playing well for one period.
"You have to start right off the bat — you can't expect to play a team as good as they are and only play one period, like we did in the third period today and the second period last night," said Cazabon, noting the Patriotes brought a consistent effort throughout the series. "You have to play a full game to beat a team like that."
The Wildcats still have the Northern Ontario Secondary School Athletics 'AAA' championships this week in Sault Ste. Marie, but they'll head there without their second straight NDA championship.
"t's a long road to get here and quite a few of them got the taste of (victory) last year and now they won't taste it," Cazabon said. "We've tried to deflect our energy toward NOSSA now, whereas last year, we were flat when we got to NOSSA because we had the experience of winning the NDA."
The Patriotes will travel to Sudbury for the NOSSA 'A/AA' championships, which open Tuesday.
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