The Calgary Canucks have crashed their own party at the 2025 Centennial Cup. Read More
Hayden Fechner, Gavin Schmidt team up to push host side into championship contest
Hayden Fechner, Gavin Schmidt team up to push host side into championship contest
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The Calgary Canucks have crashed their own party at the 2025 Centennial Cup.
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In vying to become hosts with the most at the Canadian Junior Hockey League’s national championship, they have pushed their way into the heralded event’s finale
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Patience, confidence and a never-in-doubt attitude is paying off for the reigning two-time Alberta Junior Hockey League kings in their own barn.
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“Never quit,” agreed Canucks GM/head coach Brad Moran, just moments after Hayden Fechner’s overtime goal in Saturday’s 3-2 semifinal victory over Ontario’s Rockland Nationals sealed a spot for the home side in the championship final.
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“That’s the M.O. of the group,” continued Moran. “They just kept going. They didn’t get rattled — they stuck with it.
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“I think it’s a team that has a big goal in mind.”
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That’s, of course, a Canadian title in front of friends, family and feverish fans, as the Canucks play for gold in the gold-medal game against Saskatchewan’s Melfort Mustangs set for Sunday at Max Bell Centre (5 p.m., HNLive.ca).
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“We’re full of confidence right now,” said Canucks forward Gavin Schmidt, whose two goals in regulation — including one with just three minutes left in regulation — helped send the Canucks to the OT finish.
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“There was definitely nerves coming in,” continued Schmidt. “But even though we have some rough starts in most of our games at this tournament, we’re always turning it around.”
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In this one, they needed to in order to move on and avoid the same heartache felt last year when they lost in the semi at the Centennial Cup in Oakville, Ont.
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But it didn’t come easily.
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For most of the contest, the Nationals refused to give up much in the way of scoring opportunities. And when they did, goaltender Benoit Forget — who made 28 saves game-wide — was there to shut the door.
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The Canucks, however, kept pressing, shaking off two goals scored by Nationals sniper Gabriel Le Houillier, to eventually get a monster goal from Schmidt, who snapped home a feed from Fechner with the home squad short-handed late in the second period.
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The timely marker breathed life into the Cup hosts, as they came out in the third frame and continued with the never-quit attitude that’s paced them through much of the 11-day national championship.
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But between Schmidt’s tallies — his third and fourth of the 10-team competition — it was the home-side goalie, Lukas Renaud, with heroics at the other end. The Canucks ’tender almost single-handedly kept the Canucks’ comeback hopes alive with a handful of magnificent saves — including a couple on breakaways — as part of a massive 42-stop performance.