HAMILTON-WENTWORTH CATHOLIC DISTRICT SCHOOL BOARD
Celtics Clinch OFSAA Spot with OT Win

A goal in overtime has propelled the Bishop Ryan Celtics to an OFSAA berth in boys' high school hockey.

The visiting Celtics defeated Oakville's Holy Trinity Titans 3-2 in a Golden Horseshoe Athletic Conference semifinal Monday when centre Mike Alford fired the winning goal at 7:28 of a 10-minute OT period.

The Hamilton-Wentworth Catholic champions struck for the deciding marker when defenceman Cameron Schweitzer zipped a long pass to Alford, who raced in and snapped a shot into the net from the top of the faceoff circle.

"(Schweitzer) saw I was breaking pretty fast," Alford said. "He makes good heads-up plays. He's been doing that for a while."

Alford also opened the scoring. In the final minute of the first period he banged in a rebound on the power play.

The previously unbeaten Halton Catholic champions (10-0) then tied the score on a backhand pass from Brody Fletcher to Adam Lakhani who, in turn, flipped a backhand shot from the low slot past goaltender Nicholas Lagges.

Justin Galic gave Holy Trinity its only lead by pulling the trigger on a 3-on-2 rush before BR's Levi Snider shovelled in a rebound late in the second period to make it 2-2.

Defenceman Luca Alfieri picked up two assists for BR.

"The flow of the game was good," the Titans coach said. "Both teams had chances. I think we had a few better opportunities, though."

The Celtics coach agreed that the Titans carried the play through much of the game, which required Lagges to make a handful of outstanding saves.

"I don't think we win that game without him," Cannon said.

In the other GHAC semifinal, Milton's Bishop Reding Royals edged Burlington's Nelson Flames, 2-1. So because Reding won a silver medal at OFSAA last year, GHAC qualifies two teams -- Reding and BR -- for this year's AAA tournament in Windsor.

Cannon said his team faced a tough challenge going into the game against Holy Trinity. That's because at the last minute the Sixteen Mile Sports Complex venue was unexpectedly switched from that arena's NHL-size ice surface to its adjacent Olympic-size surface.

"We don't play on Olympic ice," the BR coach said. "It's new to us. Very different. We're not used to that extra 15 feet.

"It's one of those things that you have to adjust to as the game goes on. Luckily, we battled." Alford, whose strong skating and puck-handling skills led to numerous rushes toward goal, said he enjoyed the large-ice experience.

And he thought BR's win to qualify for OFSAA was pretty special, too.

"It's great," he said. "We're the second team in 50-something years to do it. Everybody is loving it."

Bishop Ryan made its only other trip to the provincial championship two years ago. That was also in Windsor.

Reding and BR will play a GHAC final on Wednesday, March 5 in Milton. The OFSAA tournament is scheduled for March 18-20. 

Photo by R.F. (Bob) Butrym, RFB Sport Photography