Lakeshore claims provincial Junior C Schmalz Cup championship

May 19, 2022 · 0 Comments

Written By Brian Lockhart

The Lakeshore Canadiens are the 2022 Junior C Provincial Schmalz Cup champions after a 3-2 OT win over the Clarington Eagles in the final tournament game on Sunday (May 15) at the University of Guelph arena.

The teams were tied at two at the end of the third period forcing overtime to decide the winner.

Lakeshore’s Dylan Weston got the winning goal at 41 seconds into overtime give the Canadiens the championship.

The North Carruthers Division champions, the Stayner Siskins, who went on to win the North Conference title, started out strong with a couple of wins in the tournament. However, they lost their next two games including a loss in game four to Clarington on May 14, which eliminated them from advancing.

Four Conference champions entered the final tournament. The Stayner Siskins, Grimsby Peach Kings, Lakeshore Canadiens, and the Clarington Eagles all earned the right to go to this year’s final tournament.

Grimsby, a usual powerhouse in the Junior C loop, lost all four games in the tournament which came as a surprise to Junior C fans.

The tournament went through three rounds of preliminary competition to determine the final teams standing.

The Schmalz Cup was decided by a tournament format this season rather than the usual best-of-seven playoff series.

The provincial shut-down in January put a delay on hockey for the month after arenas around the province were closed to the public and all hockey operations came to a halt.

League executive made the decision to extend the playing time for the regular season to determine the final standings.

Since this pushed the regular season farther into the year, it was decided it was not practical to continue with the series format as there would be issues with ice time in some municipalities.

In the North Carruthers Division, teams completed a 30-game regular season schedule with Stayner winning the championship on April 13.

It is expected the Schmalz Cup final will be back to the regular playoff format
next season.