CLARENVILLE CARIBOUS AND DUNDAS REAL MCCOYS TO MEET IN CHAMPIONSHIP GAME AT 2014 ALLAN CUP
DUNDAS, Ont. – After semifinal victories on Friday, the Clarenville Caribous and Dundas Real McCoys will meet for the 106th Allan Cup, Canada’s National Senior Championship, on Saturday at J.L. Grightmire Arena. The championship game can be seen live on TSN beginning at 3 p.m. ET/noon PT. Check your local listings for broadcast times in your area.
Clarenville beat the defending Allan Cup champion Bentley Generals 5-1 in Friday’s early semifinal, while host Dundas topped the Kenora Thistles 4-0 in the late game.
Saturday’s game will mark the third championship game appearance in four years for the Caribous, who won the 2011 national title, while the Real McCoys are in the final for the first time ever.
Both teams enter the game with identical 3-0 records. Clarenville finished first in Division One thanks to wins over Kenora and the Brantford Blast, while Dundas was tops in Division Two with victories over Bentley and the South East Prairie Thunder.
In Friday’s early semifinal, Dale Sullivan, Chris Hulit, Dustin Russell and Cam Fergus scored second-period goals for the Caribous to erase an early 1-0 deficit. Hulit finished with two goals, while Peter Campbell and Andrew Sweetland added two assists each for Clarenville. Jason Churchill made 34 saves to record the win in the Caribous goal.
In the late game, Mike Mole made 28 saves for the shutout, and Dundas got two goals from Ryan Christie and one each from Jason Ward and Simon Mangos to earn the victory in an all-Ontario semifinal. The Real McCoys will try Saturday to become the fifth host team in the last decade to win the national championship, and the second in as many years; Bentley won on home ice last year.
The Allan Cup is one of the oldest club-team hockey competitions in North America, having been first competed for in 1908. Only once in the past 106 years, in 1945, has an Allan Cup champion not been crowned.
For more information on the 2014 Allan Cup, please visit www.allancup.ca.