Trail native Riley Brandt earned player of the game, scoring twice and adding an assist, but it wasn’t enough to lift his Royal Military College Paladins to victory against the Queen’s University Gaels in the 132nd instalment of the Carr-Harris Cup.
The No. 9 ranked Gaels defeated the Paladins 6-5 in overtime to win the oldest tilt in hockey in Kingston, Ont. last week. With Brandt leading the Paladins attack and Montrose native Luke Bertolucci lining up for the Gael’s, the game had a decidedly Smokie Greater Trail flavour.
The two teams entertained a raucous crowd of over 3,500 fans, as Queen’s got things started early when Ryan Bloom ripped a wrist shot past Paladins netminder Austin Hannaford at 2:38 to open the scoring. RMC would answer right back as the OUA’s leading goal scorer Brandt notched his 18th of the season on Gaels goalie Kevin Bailie.
Luke Edwards and Slater Doggett extended the Queen’s lead to 3-1 before the period was out, but RMC gave the Gaels all they could handle in the second period, as the Paladins David Savery walked in from the blue line and scored on the power play to cut the Gaels lead to 3-2.
Brandt added his second of the game on a tipped shot to even the game at 3-3, but Queen’s was able to salvage the period, retaking the lead at 18:59 when Bertolucci set up Alex Stothart for a slim 4-3 advantage despite being outshot 22-17.
Rhett Wilcox tied the game on another Paladins man advantage just 4:40 into the final frame, and the back and forth battle would continue as Doggett recaptured the Gaels’ lead with his second goal of the night to put Queen’s up 5-4. As was the story all night, RMC battled back and, for the fourth time, tied the game on a Dylan Giberson marker to force the overtime period.
The Gaels’ Darcy Greenaway ended the game with a beautiful end-to-end rush at 1:21 of overtime to send Queen’s home with their third Carr-Harris win in the last four year.
The game between the cross-town-rival Queens and RMC dates back to 1886 and was dubbed the Carr-Harris Cup on the 100th anniversary.