HAMILTON-WENTWORTH CATHOLIC DISTRICT SCHOOL BOARD
Bishop Ryan Celtics win second-straight boys' hockey championship

The Bishop Ryan Celtics are Hamilton-Wentworth Catholic boys' high school hockey champions for a second-straight year and for Sean Underhill it was an encore performance.

"I decided to come back for Grade 13 this year and do it again," the Celtics veteran said after helping BR to a 7-3 victory over the St. Mary Crusaders at Mountain Arena Wednesday.

"This means a lot. A handful of us, maybe five or six, decided to come back because we wanted another win."

The game marked the fifth time in the past six years that the Celtics and Crusaders have opposed each other in the final.

Underhill scored a pair of goals for the first-place Celtics who built a four-goal lead before St. Mary battled back impressively to make the score 4-3 going into the third period.

Ethan Ferreira also fired a pair of goals for Bishop Ryan, while singles went to Gianluca Muraca, Chris Lamont and Ryan Wercholaz.

Caden Okis, Aiden Parise and Owen Bezan replied the second-place Crusaders.

Bishop Ryan coach Justin Cannon said the return of Underhill to the lineup after a 10-day absence due a shoulder injury was inspirational to the rest of the players.

"Having him on the bench and having his presence was massive for us," Cannon said. "It gave us a huge boost."

Underhill was the second-leading scorer on the team this season - behind Ben Fox. Underhill, who is headed to McMaster University on a football scholarship, said: "We may not have the best talent, but our whole team has heart. Our captain, Nathan Jones, leads this team well."

During the regular schedule BR defeated St. Mary on both occasions - 9-1 and 6-1.

"I give them a ton of credit for the way they battled back to make it a 4-3 game," Cannon said. "We preached getting off to a quick start (BR trailed its semifinal 3-0 against St. Thomas More). We got it, but we let our foot off the gas. It got dicey."

Cannon also praised BR netminder Alessio Veysey for shutting out the Crusaders in the final period after yielding three quick goals in less than two minutes.

"A goalie can crumble after something like that but he kept his head up and shut the door in the third," Cannon said.

Despite the loss, St. Mary coach Jason Kokoski said his young team performed admirably.

"We had a great second period," he said. "But in the third, BR brought the energy."

St. Mary's season isn't over, however. There won't be a Golden Horseshoe Athletic Conference challenge game against Halton this season so St. Mary automatically advances to the provincial AA tournament March 21-23 in St. Catharines.

Next up for BR is a GHAC final against the Halton AAA champion on March 8 at Valley Park Arena.

Other members of the Celtics are Cameron Kingston, Owen Hunks, Zachary VanderElzen, Carter MacQueen, Carter Rogers, Braden Rees, Owen Booker, James Monaghan, Luca Alfieri, Noah Guimond, Alex Breau, Jake Farr, Luca Amoroso, Colin McHugh and Jacob Hicks.

"It's the first time in our school's history that the hockey team has won back-to-back championships," Cannon said.

"We had a lot of guys come back for 12-plus this year, so it's a nice cherry-on-the-top for them."

A GHAC victory would earn BR a trip to the OFSAA tournament in Windsor, March 21-23.