The 2024 Cardinal Classic Tournament was created as a slightly more relaxed event, a chance for a grouping of eight boys high-school hockey teams from across the north to play a handful of different competitors.

With games limited to just one hour, the entire tournament too place between 9:00 a.m. on Friday morning and the Saturday afternoon final.

But if the showcase had a feel of a series of friendlies, at times, the championship tilt between the St Charles College Cardinals and the Hearst Nordiks was anything but a relaxed affair.

The high tempo showdown featured a back and forth flow that culminated in an overtime crescendo of three on three hockey that lasted almost ten full minutes before Hayden Myre and Adam Urso converted on a pretty give and go, lifting SCC to a 2-1 win.

Jackson Noble opened the scoring for the Cardinals in the first period and for the longest time, it looked like the goal would stand as the game winner.

St Charles had done a great job of neutralizing the speedy Hearst forwards and when Danick Dubé broke through on a clear-cut breakaway in the third, goaltender Rowan McCann slammed the door with a huge save.

The Nordiks appeared to be in trouble when they were tagged for a slashing penalty with 3:11 to play - but it was the visitors who caught the Cards napping, springing Jacob Picard in all alone with the talented forward wiring the game-tying goal, bar down

St Charles posted a 3-0-1 record in round robin play, blanking Hearst (2-0), St Joseph Scollard Hall (5-0) and St Mary's (4-0) before playing to a 4-4 draw with Central Algoma.

Hearst rebounded from their opening game loss, beating St Benedict (4-1) and Confederation (2-0) before also earning a tie, 2-2 with Lo-Ellen while Central Algoma dropped a 4-3 decision to the Knights, knocking off St Benedict (4-2) and Confederation (4-1) but losing out to the Nordiks on the tie-breaker.