While the Division I favourites were taking care of business in the SDSSAA Boys/Girls hockey finals, the real drama this year is taking place within the Division II brackets.
Bishop Carter Gators forward and playoff MVP Reegan Purvis ensured that the tenseness would be kept to a minimum come the second time their boys Division II final with the Lively Hawks would require overtime, converting on a breakaway just 14 seconds into period four on Tuesday and lifting the Gators to a series win, two games to one.
"We didn't really have a plan; we just knew that we had to play good defense in overtime," said Purvis.
Not for very long, thanks to the 16 year-old grade 11 talent in his third year with the team who paced the BAC attack in game one with a hat-trick as the Gators edged the Hawks 7-6 in OT (Lively edged Bishop Carter 2-1 in game two).
"We got lucky," said Purvis. "At the start of overtime, I got it back to our defenseman, Jack Landry. They got sucked in deep so he gave it to Shawn (linemate Shawn Huzij) and I was all alone."
With the series on his stick, as it were.
"My favourite play is going five hole," stated Purvis. "I don't really like to deke. It's worked well for me, putting the puck five hole right along the ice."
The snipe capped off a great playoff run for Purvis and his linemates (Gavin Patterson rounds out the trio), the lads accounting for no less than nine goals over the course of five playoff games.
"We know that if we play with confidence, we can do pretty much anything out there," said Purvis. "It's pretty easy to get goals like that when you're playing with the right people."
After cruising through the first two games of the best of five Division I city final, the St Charles College Cardinals received the expected pushback from the Lo-Ellen Park Knights in the final two outings.
Still, after being blanked 3-0 in game three on Monday, a 2-1 win on Thursday somehow had the feel of a game that SCC controlled, almost for the entirety, with perhaps a glimpse of doubt in the final half minute of play.
"We knew going into this game that we were winning," said Division I playoff MVP Jackson Noble, who opened the scoring just three minutes in. "We had video review yesterday and we covered all of the things that we did wrong."
A teammate with current Cards Rowan McCann, Karson Gouchie and Liam Judd with the Sudbury U16 AA Wolves one year ago, Noble found all of the convincing he needed to make the transfer to high-school hockey when St Charles and Lo-Ellen met one year ago.
"I was at the games and it was so electric, I knew that I wanted to make the jump," said Noble. "It's very fast and physical. I am a very fast player so I feel that I can keep up with my speed to all of the teams in the league."
Hayden Myre netted the eventual game-winning goal midway through the second, giving St Charles a 2-0 lead before Lo-Ellen narrowed the gap with under ten minutes to play, courtesy of Corey Lacroix.
After losing a game two overtime heartbreaker to the Horizon Aigles earlier in the week, the Lo-Ellen Park girls also wrapped things up in Division I action on Wednesday, blanking the Aigles 3-0.
Late second period goals by Isabella Perry and Gracie Dale, exactly one minute apart, along with an insurance marker in the third from Isabel Rheault provided all the offense that goalkeeper Leila Barsanti would need, making 23 saves in the win.
NOSSA championships for both the St Charles boys and the Lo-Ellen girls begin Monday morning in North Bay, with finals set for Tuesday afternoon.
In the meantime, the Division II girls final will require a third game (Monday at 1:00 p.m. at the Gerry McCrory Countryside Sports Complex) after the Confederation Chargers edged the St Benedict Bears 2-1 on Wednesday.
Goals by Makayla Dunn and Rylee Morris propelled the Chargers to victory as Sydney Bradley answered in a losing cause.
