LISTOWEL – They pulled it off.
The Listowel Cyclones had one game left to complete a perfect regular season in Bantam Rep minor hockey, a home date with the Walkerton Capitals.
Listowel skated away with a 3-2 victory to extend their overall record to 33-0, including three tournaments.
“It means a lot, we’ve come a long way from the start of the season to now,” said defenceman Drew McKee.
To complete the feat, they had to get by the Capitals, the division’s worst team, on Sunday, Jan. 8.
Easier said than done. Their goaltender played a strong positional game and kept the clubs close.
The game was tied 2-2 in the third period when McKee fired the game-winner from the point. He fell as he released the shot and had no idea it found its way through a maze of legs and sticks until his teammates came to deliver the good news.
“I was hoping to get a shot on net or a pass right to a guy around the net,” he said. “I didn’t realize (I scored) until after the guys came to celebrate.”
It capped a big two-week stretch for the group. They captured the regional Silver Stick tournament in Kincardine in late December.
“(Silver Stick) is a big accomplishment,” said captain Caleb Warren. “It feels good to accomplish that.”
The core of this team has won several all-Ontario championships in the past but never a Silver Stick.
Listowel went 5-0 at Kincardine, outscoring the competition 18-4. They defeated the host Kinucks 3-0 in the final.
Walkerton took a 1-0 lead in the season finale, then Warren knotted the score with 40 seconds to go in the first period from Keaton Willis.
Broedy Karelse supplied a 2-1 second-period lead.
He took the puck to the net from the corner, was stopped, then linemate Matthew Koch poked the rebound to Karelse at the side of the net.
The Capitals slipped a low shot past goalie Steven Gottfried to pull even again.
The Cyclones pushed hard to retake the lead, but couldn’t beat the goalie.
Warren had a breakaway, Cole Dannemann fired a high shot from the slot and Riley Conners feathered a pass to a wide-open Karelse, but all three were stymied.
Riley Thompson, who recently returned from a back injury and scored a big goal at the Silver Stick tournament, left the game in the second period after a collision.
Koch and Warren picked up assists on McKee’s game-winner.
There are three things left to work down the stretch: the WOAA/OMHA playoffs, the International Silver Stick later this month and an attempt to maintain the unblemished record.
“We need to focus on the positive comments on the bench and getting the puck out and keep passing as hard as we can,” McKee said.
The playoff schedule is expected to be released today (Jan. 11).