The Prairie Hockey Academy Cougars White came a single win away from finishing off one of the most impressive storybook runs in Canadian Sport School Hockey League history.
Entering the CSSHL U17 Prep Tier I championship tournament in Penticton. B.C. this week, Prairie Hockey wasn’t expected to be much of a factor in the proceedings -- as the 11th-seed out of 12 teams, it was likely going to be three round robin games and a trip home.
The Cougars apparently didn’t get the memo.
PHA would proceed to go undefeated through the round robin to reach the semifinals, where they defeated Northern Alberta Xtreme White 2-1 in overtime to reach the CSSHL gold medal final. There, they’d score twice in the third period to tie the game before falling 5-4 in overtime to Calgary International Hockey Academy.
That close to finishing off a miracle run.
The round robin saw the Cougars defeat Rink Academy 4-2 and Delta Academy 4-1 before taking a shootout victory over NAX Blue to book their spot in the playoffs.
Calgary International 5, Prairie Hockey 4 (OT)
PHA trailed 4-2 at the 2:02 mark of the third period, but as they had done all week, they found a way to rally.
Rylan Molde scored 28 seconds after Calgary had gone up by a pair, and Rylan Aulin tied things up with 2:29 to play in regulation.
There things remained until the 2:45 mark of overtime, when Calgary scored on the power play to claim the CSSHL title.
Rylan Emigh and Griffin Horne scored for Moose Jaw in the second period, as Calgary led 1-0 after the first and 3-2 through two.
Cameron Beisal had 37 saves in the contest.
Prairie Hockey 2, NAX White 1 (OT)
Molde scored the only goal of regulation as the teams were tied 1-1 at the end of all three periods.
That set the stage for Horne in overtime, as he’d pick up the loose puck in the corner, work his way behind the net and out front before beating the NAX goaltender short side for the winner, touching off a raucous celebration.
Georgi Milanov turned in a stellar performance in the PHA goal, turning aside 37 of the 38 shots he faced.
Prairie Hockey 5, NAX Blue 4 (SO)
It was Beisal and Aulin who were the heroes in PHA final round robin game, as the Cougars goaltender turned aside 34 shots in regulation and overtime as well as three of five attempts in the shootout to earn the win.
Aulin did his part by scoring the biggest goal of the game as PHA’s sixth attempt in the shootout, leading to Beisal’s final save and the victory.
Hudson Thiessen scored twice for the Cougars, while Grant Gliege and AJ Paulsen had their other markers in regulation.
PHA lead 2-1 after the first and 3-2 through two periods.
Prairie Hockey 4, Delta Academy 1
There were no dramatics needed in the Cougars second game, as Kale Pratte scored goals in each period for a hat trick and PHA battled to a hard-fought win.
Gliege scored an empty netter and Carter Wingert had three assists as Prairie Hockey led 1-0 after the first and 2-1 through two.
Milanov was solid again, stopping 42 shots while the Cougars had only 16 shots of their own.
Prairie Hockey 4, Rink Academy 2
Goals from Thiessen and Kane Domres gave PHA a 2-0 lead after the first, and Pratte would extend the edge to 3-0 three minutes into the third period.
Rink scored a pair later in the second to make it a one-goal game coming home, but Horne scored 1:20 into the third and the Cougars held on from there.
Beisal had 34 saves to open a string of stellar goaltender performances for Prairie Hockey.
