A scramble in front of the net resulted with Mathieu Talbot scoring the game winner 6:54 in to Overtime as the Casselman Vikings defeated the Ottawa West Golden Knights 3-2 on Monday night. The win puts the Vikings up 3-2 in the best-of-7 EOJHL semi-final series.
“I didn’t think we shot the puck enough tonight, but we played well enough to win,” said Golden Knights Head Coach Steve Sundin. “We have played well in their building coming away with two wins in the series and now we will need to do it again on Wednesday night.”
Through the first five games of the series neither team has won at home.
Sundin grew up down the road from the Barbara Ann Scott Arena and started coaching Ottawa West minor hockey at 14 years old. His career coaching Junior hockey started with the Kanata Valley Lasers Jr. A team in 1991-92. “Archie Mulligan was my mentor in Kanata and I spent 12 years with him.”
After his time in Kanata, Sundin coached for Kemptville, the Ottawa Canadians and Perth. 12 years ago Sundin took the opportunity to become the owner of his hometown team. “Owner, Blake Sinclair, knew that I was from Ottawa West and probably could have got more money from other people but he decided to sell it to me.”
The Golden Knights finished 1st overall in the regular season for the second straight season with a 33-7-2 record. Ottawa West also finished 1st overall in 2019-20 with a 36-6-2 record before COVID-19 cut their season short.
“Head Scout Bob Ward and I recruited a lot of Midget players from Nepean and the Ottawa Sting 4 years ago. I’d feel bad for this group of graduating players if we don’t win, because we could have won this league 3 years in a row if it wasn’t for the pandemic.”
The Golden Knights have 13 graduating players on the roster.
Ottawa West have been without star forward and League MVP Jack Haymes for the entire series against the Vikings. Haymes, who played in all 42 regular season games, finished the season with 87 points and is not expected to return before the Finals.
The Golden Knights will travel to Casselman Wednesday night with Game 6 scheduled for 8pm at the JR Brisson Complex. A win will force Game 7, which is scheduled for 7:20 Thursday night at the Barbara Ann Scott Arena.
