Two-for-two is a good day in baseball but an awesome start to a collegiate hockey career.
Rossland native and former Trail Smoke Eater Patrik Martin chalked up his second B.C. Intercollegiate Hockey League title in two years with the Simon Fraser University Clan men’s hockey team on Sunday.
The Clan successfully defended their BCIHL title with a 5-2 win over the Thompson Rivers University Wolfpack in Burnaby.
“A repeat, that’s pretty nice,” said the 22-year-old Martin, who is in general studies at SFU.
Sunday’s end to the BCIHL playoffs followed a similar pattern to SFU’s playoff run in 2010 – a tough game against Okanagan College, a loss to TRU in the first meeting and a victory in the rematch with a title on the line.
SFU got an early wake-up call in the first game of the tournament, which features the top four teams in the league.
The Clan saw a 5-1 lead over Okanagan College shrink to a 6-5 lead before escaping with an 8-6 victory last Wednesday. Last year, it took a narrow 3-2 shootout win over Okanagan to reach the title game.
“That 8-6 win was quite a shootout,” said Martin. “I think we were a little bit rusty coming into the tournament. It helped us get back on track.”
A win on Friday against Thompson Rivers University would have put them in the championship game but the top-ranked TRU blanked SFU 3-0 behind former KIJHL standout goaltender Anthony Manfredi.
That mirrored last year’s first meeting between the two teams where TRU handed SFU its only loss.
A repeat of last year’s final matchup was assured when SFU booked its spot in Sunday’s game with a 5-1 win over the University of Victoria Saturday night.
On Sunday, Paul Moscone, a former member of the Grandview Steelers of the Pacific International Junior Hockey League, scored twice while Martin’s former Beaver Valley Nitehawk teammate, netminder Justin Mulholland, made 26 saves and was named the second star in the championship game.
Martin, who had 10 points in 18 games this season, said SFU’s success is a credit to its recruiting program.
“You have to give it to our general manager, Jeff Dubois,” said Martin. “He brings in good players.
“We had a lot of new guys come in this year and from the beginning of the season we worked hard and it paid off in the long run.”
TRU took first overall in the regular season, one point ahead of SFU.
Selkirk College missed the playoffs after finishing sixth in the seven-team league.