Toronto, ON – Third-year attack Tristan Simeoni scored the lone goal in overtime to lead the Western Mustangs to a 9-8 victory over the Brock Badgers and their third consecutive Baggataway Cup as the national championship wrapped up on Sunday afternoon (Nov. 11) at Varsity Stadium.
Fourth-year midfielder Rowan Kelly led the Mustangs with three goals as they claimed their sixth national title since CUFLA was founded in 1985. Fourth-year attack Cody Ward earned championship most valuable player honours after scoring five goals over the weekend, including two in the championship final victory.
Connor Ham led the Badgers with three goals and one assist in the loss.
Second-year Badgers attack Campbell Parker opened the scoring midway through the first quarter and Ham tallied his first of the game with 19 seconds remaining to put Brock up 2-0 after 20 minutes of action.
Ham notched his second less than two minutes into the second quarter on the power play to give the Badgers a three-goal advantage. Western finally found the back of the net as Ward and Cole Davis scored back-to-back goals within two minutes of each other. Ham completed the hat trick before time expired to put Brock up 4-2 at halftime.
Third-year attack Tyrus Rehanek scored early in the third quarter to restore Brock's three-goal cushion, but the Mustangs responded in a big way. Kelly scored a powerplay marker, Ward notched his second of the game and Jonathan Tokiwa found the back of the net to tie the game at 5-5.
Parker answered back just before the third quarter ended as Brock held a narrow 6-5 lead heading into the final frame.
Kelly wasted no time, scoring his second of the game for to even things back up at 6-6, but Brock restored a two-goal lead as Kurtis Woodland and Brown tallied. It was all Western from there as Simeoni scored with two minutes remaining and Kelly scored with 58 seconds to go to force overtime.
SCORING SUMMARY:
WES 0-2-3-3-1-0: 9
BRO 2-2-2-2-0-0: 8
Championship MVP:
WES: Cody Ward
Players of the game:
WES: John Andrew Kit
BRO: Adam Kirchmayer
