SAC Hockey falls short in season-ending national tournament

March 14, 2018 · 0 Comments

By Jake Courtepatte

The St. Andrew’s Saints fell a goal short of reaching their second varsity title game in two weeks, after a heartbreaking 4 – 3 overtime loss to Stanstead College in last weekend’s National Independent School Championship.
Sharing hosting duties with Toronto’s Upper Canada College, twelve prep programs from across Canada descended on the on-campus LaBrier Arena for the final tournament of the season.
The varsity Saints cruised through New Brunswick’s Rothesay Netherwood School in preliminary play before a hard-fought 7 – 6 overtime win over Ulysse Prep, setting up a date with the also-perfect Bishop’s College School of Quebec.
A 5 – 3 win, led by a three-point effort from Matthew Steinburg, paved a path to Saturday’s semifinal against Stanstead College.
The hometown Saints got on the board first when Ian MacLean finished off a nifty deke around the defender by Matthew McKim in close, though Stanstead evened it up early in the second period.
They took their first lead of the game in beating Aidan Hosein midway through the third period, though with St. Andrew’s pressuring and only a few minutes on the clock, MacLean found the back of the net again on a delayed penalty call.
Four-on-four overtime saw chances at both ends, though it took a fifth period to decide the outcome when a bad bounce off the boards led to a Stanstead winner and a caught-off-guard Hosein.
Upper Canada College, the recent runners-up to the Saints in the CISAA divisional championship, took the title match 4 – 3 over Stanstead.
St. Andrew’s last won the tournament in 2016, defeating division rival Ridley College.