The wait is finally over. On Sunday March 24, the University of Western Ontario Mustangs succeeded where their predecessors had failed. At 13:07 of the third overtime period, Stacey Britstone gave the Mustangs their first ever CIS championship with a 4-3 victory over the Patriotes of the University of Quebec at Trois-Rivieres.
The game will likely go down as the best ever in CIS championship history. It was the longest championship game ever played, spanning nearly six periods of hockey. After J.F. Pare scored his second goal of the game on a beautiful deflection late in the second period, neither team could manage a goal until Britstone’s heroics ended the contest.
Both goaltenders had excellent games. Eric DesJardins stopped 44 shots for the Patriotes, while Mike D’Alessandro, the tournament most valuable player, stopped 37 for Western. D’Alessandro was excellent all tournament, particularly in the Mustangs’ semi-final win over Alberta, in which he stopped 37 of 38 shots in the game.
Western Ontario came out flying in the first, putting immediate pressure on the Patriotes. Their efforts were rewarded as Shawn Thompson converted a rebound off a Ryan McKie point shot to give the Mustangs the lead at 6:20. They made the score 2-0 at 10:04 when Abe Herbst snuck in from the point and roofed a backhand over a sprawled DesJardins.
UQTR responded only minutes later with a shorthanded goal. J.F. Pare was sent in all alone on a beautiful feed from Alexandre Piche, beating D’Alessandro to cut the lead in half.
All-Canadian Matt Dzuieduszcki restored the two-goal lead at 17:45, only to have Alexandre Tremblay make the score 3-2 at 19:53 of the first period. After Pare tied the score in the second, it was another 79 minutes and 4 seconds before the game finally came to an end.
Joe Talbot nearly ended the game much sooner. With DesJardins caught out of his net in the first overtime period, Talbot had a glorious opportunity alone in front of the goal. To his horror, his shot sailed over the empty net. Thankfully, the play was rendered meaningless with Britstone’s goal.
For the Mustangs, the win was sweet revenge, as the Patriotes ruined Western’s undefeated season in the O.U.A. final game. That game was also decided in overtime.
