FORT ST JOHN, British Columbia – In front of 2500 fever hot fans, the Fort St John Flyers found themselves on top of the world last week. The Flyers capped off their chance to host the 2010 Allan Cup by winning the 102 year old trophy with a 4-1 victory over the Bentley Generals in the Championship Final of the 6 day tournament. In what was hyped as a dream match up for both finalists, the Flyers found their legs early on. Todd Alexander took advantage of a puppet string bounce over the stick of Gens’ defenceman Donny Morrison, raced away on a long breakaway, before beating Jordan Alford to the stickside for the all important opening goal at 8:05 of the first period. North Peace Arena had never been louder. A home grown hockey product whose family name has been a mainstay for the Flyers organization going back almost 40 years, Alexander, was the perfect answer early on and with his exciting goal another question had to be asked: Do the defending champions have any gas left in the tank? The Bentley Generals were playing thier 5th game in 6 nights. On the road. Up against it. Big time, after losing to the same Flyers 7-1 in round robin play 5 days prior. That opening loss led the Gens’ around the long way back to the finals. They recovered to beat Clarenville 7-2 in the next round robin game, eliminated Powell River Regals 5-1 in the quarter finals 24 hours later and less than a full day after that, sent Dundas home in the semi-final with a 4-2 win which required a 3rd period rally from a 2-1 deficit against the Ontario powerhouse. The importance of the round robin top seed was highlighted in the 2nd period. The Flyers speed game took over, as they rang up a 17-6 shot advantage against the fading legs of the defending champs. Alford was called upon to make several difficult saves, a sight the Gen’s Army is unaccustomed to and the Flyer faithful fed off their teams dominance. At 16:44 of the 2nd period another local darling, Chris Stevens, snapped a dagger from the right side, set up smartly by Kip Noble. The shot culminated an exhausting sequence of nearly four minutes without a whistle. It was Stevens’ tournament leading 6th goal. The portly winger’s arms locked up with adrenaline as he double-pumped his goal celebration amidst an ear exploding roar. After falling in each of the previous 3 years in the McKenzie Cup (BC/Alberta playoff series) against Bentley, this was the Flyers time. Their tournament. Their one shot at history. They sent an unmistakable message from the opening shift of that 7-1 beating when every player in FSJ’s starting line-up, lined up in defiance and reeled off a string of savage hits to set the tone for the tournament.
Fort St John followed up that game doubling up Clarenville 6-3, clinching a free pass through the dreaded quarter finals. One game away from the finals…they then thwarted South East Prairie Thunder 7-3 in the semi-finals and arrived in the finals with another exclamation point added to an already screaming train of momentum. It took Generals veteran winger Scott Hood to prevent FSJ from running away in the 3rd period. With three Allan Cup rings on his hand, Hood was looking for more when he one timed John Hobson’s pass under Clayton Pool to make it 2-1. Only nine minutes remained in the game…but finally…Brian Sutter had seen an indication of life still in the hearts of his wavering team. Coach Sutter called a time out to try and scrape the last remnants of energy out of his teams legs at 7:23. Flyers’ Tyler Brough headed off for hooking at that stoppage. It was the 5th powerplay of the game for Bentley and the biggest of their season. Conversely, the biggest penalty kill in the history of the Flyers franchise lay ahead. Appearing in an Allan Cup final for the 3rd straight season, Bentley would not back down. Three hundred fans made the ten hour trip from the prairie into ‘peace country’ hoping to see a dynasty. Instead, hope was dying and it was nasty. Bentley was continually unable to get shots on net as FSJ fell in front of everything, collecting bruises as if they were precious metal. Precious metal indeed. Fort St John stonewalled the last march of the Bentley Generals brigade. Ryan Carter brought the house down when he poached onto a desperation breakout, stepping across the line and launching the kill shot from 35 feet off to Alford’s left side at 17:04. Rod Stevens added an empty netter at 19:47. No clock was needed to countdown the final 13 seconds. Everyone in Fort St John could hear the rushing wave coming from the rink. It was the 9th time in 18 years the Allan Cup was awarded to the team hosting the tournament. Prior to that, the trophy was awarded through series play only. There are some who feel it could be time to revert back and not just because of the advantages given to the host team. Gens’ assistant coach Jason Lenz points out; “A lot of teams believe its time for a change and not only because of the advantage the host team gets but a big part of it is financial.” Still, Lenz was not about to discredit the tremendous accomplishment of his northern rivals; “They’re a good team no doubt about it. They’re a team that was built over over a year to make a run at a championship.” And make a run they did. Fort St John outscored the oppostion 24-8 through four games and ran a powerplay percent of 26% on the tournament, generating seven goals off the man advantage. Adding two more shorthanded goals to boot, was a sure fire sign of a team with a combination of lethal speed and focus. As for the Generals, they arrived home more than 24 hours after the devestating loss and will need to take a full summer to recover from what was the most physical, most intense and most rugged tournament of the five they’ve qualified for. Rightly so, more than a few Flyers’ found some extra hardware when it was handed out: Tournament MVP: Rod Stevens Fort St. John All Star Team Goalie Jordan Alford Bentley Defenseman Dane Crowley – South East Defenseman Andrew Derton – Fort St. John Forward Rod Stevens – Fort St. John Forward Sean Robertson – Bentley Forward Chris Stevens – Fort St. John Contact Wade.Giesbrecht@prohockeynews.com
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