By Sam Laskaris /
A pair of squads familiar to the national spotlight squared off in the championship final of the Royal Bank Cup.
And when the final buzzer sounded, it was Saskatchewan’s Humboldt Broncos who were celebrating as they had earned Canadian bragging rights.
Humboldt eked out a 1-0 victory over Alberta’s Camrose Kodiaks in the national Junior A final held May 11 in Cornwall, Ont.
Though Broncos forward Edward Gale scored a late first-period goal, the match was not literally decided until the final second. With just one second remaining in the final period, Humboldt goaltender Taylor Nelson made a spectacular glove save on Camrose sniper Joe Colborne, selected as Canada’s top Junior A player this season.
Nelson’s game-saving effort was even more dramatic considering the Kodiaks were enjoying a 6-on-4 situation. Besides being on a powerplay, Camrose had also pulled goaltender Allen York in the final minute in favour of an extra attacker.
Nelson was obviously ecstatic at thwarting the Kodiaks’ frantic rally attempt and with winning the Canadian championship.
“I’m just basking in the moment while I can,” he said. “This team is like a big family, everyone has been great. I don’t think I can find the words to describe how it feels right now. I just want to enjoy this while I can.”
The Broncos were competing in their third national tournament. Humboldt also won the RBC in 2003.
And the Broncos were also finalists at the 1987 Canadian tourney, which they played host to.
As for the Kodiaks, they’ve had their share of recent heartbreaks at the national championships.
Camrose has certainly been a powerhouse franchise with five appearances at the RBC since 2001.
But since winning their first and only national crown in ’01, the Kodiaks have come up a bit short in their four other cracks at a Canadian title.
Like it did this season, Humboldt also defeated Camrose in the 2003 championship final. The Kodiaks were also beaten by another Saskatchewan club, the Weyburn Red Wings, in the 2005 national final.
Camrose also competed at the 2007 RBC. But the Kodiaks came up a step short of advancing to the final when they lost a marathon five-overtime semi-final match to the Prince George Spruce Kings from British Columbia.
The Kodiaks were considered a slight favourite heading into this year’s final. Camrose posted a perfect 4-0 record, which included a 2-1 triumph over Humboldt, in the round-robin portion of the tournament.
The Broncos had a 2-2 mark in round-robin play.
The five-team tournament also included Nova Scotia’s Weeks Crushers and a pair of Ontario entrants, the Oakville Blades and the host Cornwall Colts.
Cornwall had round-robin wins over the Crushers and Blades. But the Colts’ hopes of capturing the national title on home ice ended when they were dumped 6-1 by Humboldt in a semi-finals contest.
The Crushers and Blades both had 1-3 round-robin marks. Weeks advanced to the semi-finals though based on its 4-3 overtime victory over Oakville.
Camrose blanked the Crushers 3-0 in their semi-final outing. |