 | The Cornwall Colts are heading to the Central Canada Hockey League Finals with their sights set on a fifth league championship. | |
Cornwall - April 8, 2012 - The Cornwall Colts are heading to the Central Canada Hockey League Finals with their sights set on a fifth league championship.
The Colts punched their ticket to the CCHL Finals after defeating the rival Hawkesbury Hawks in a hard-fought best-of-7 semi-final series. Over 1,600 fans were on hand at the Cornwall Civic Complex on Thursday, April 6th to cheer on the Colts as they defeated the Hawks 3-2 in Game 5 to advance. Cornwall defeated the Ottawa Junior Senators in the opening round of the playoffs.
The Colts will face either the Nepean Raiders or the defending champion Pembroke Lumber Kings in the Finals.
“I’ve had a chance to take in some of the playoff games so far and I’m impressed with what I’ve seen from the Colts,” said Mayor Bob Kilger, himself a former junior hockey coach. “The Colts are great ambassadors for our City, and I would encourage the community to get behind the team as they battle it out for the championship.”
It marks the second straight season that the Colts will contend for the Bogart Cup. The team fell just two wins short of the title last year, losing in six games to the Lumber Kings. Pembroke went on to win the 2011 Royal Bank Cup National Junior A Championship.
The Colts returned to the ice with high expectations this season, and they lived up to the billing, finishing second overall in the CCHL with 43 wins and 92 points. The Colts were also a regular fixture on the Canadian Junior Hockey League’s Top 20 list throughout the season.
As expected, the Colts’ playoff run has been lead by veteran forwards Tyson and Tylor Spink, Mike Borkowski and Kyle Baun, all four of whom sit among the league’s playoff scoring leaders. All four players have committed to play NCAA Division I hockey with Colgate University in Hamilton, N.Y., next season. They’ll be following in the footsteps of former Colts captain and current Ottawa Senator Jesse Winchester, who starred with the Colgate Raiders after a standout junior hockey career in Cornwall.
In addition to a strong offensive attack, the Colts enter the Finals with a stingy defence lead by goalie Lukas Hafner and defencemen Drew Henry, Stephen Johnson and Brandon Howes. The team has allowed just 15 goals in 10 playoff games to date, and Hafner currently leads all playoff netminders with a 1.46 goals against average.
There’s added incentive for this year’s CCHL Finalists as the 2012 Fred Page Cup - the Eastern Canadian Championships - will be played close to home this year, in Kanata. The winner of that tournament will advance to the RBC Cup National Championships in Humboldt, Sask., in May.
The CCHL Finals is expected to get underway next week.
About the Cornwall Colts
Established in 1992, the Cornwall Colts have won the CCHL Championship in 1995, 1996, 2000 and 2001 as well as the Fred Page Cup in 2000. The team has a tremendous track record of developing players " over 100 Colts players have moved on to play in the college, major junior, and professional ranks in North America and Europe. In addition to Winchester, other notable alumni include Chad Kilger, Cam Barker, Yann Danis, Jeff Legue, Hugo Boisvert and Kent McDonell.
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