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If there’s one thing the 2008 Orangeville Northmen weren’t very good at in this Minto Cup tournament, it was keeping the crowd in suspense. With a 9-4 win last night over the Victoria Shamrocks, the Northmen will be bringing the Minto Cup back to Orangeville for the first time in 12 years.

“I’ve been waiting for this since my first year of junior A,” tournament MVP Stephen Keogh told the Calgary Herald. “All the guys came together. We’ve been wanting this since we came here. It’s been a great year for me, winning an NCAA championship and now this. It’s a great feeling.”

Keogh punched in two goals of his own and assisted on five, bringing his tournament points total up to 17 on ten goals and seven helpers. Adam Jones capped off his impressive post-season tear with one goal and three assists last night, finishing the tournament with 17 points as well. All in all the Northmen had seven scorers last night, with Matt McLeod notching two and Jeff Ivey, Brandon Ivey, Craig England and Jeremy Noble scoring singles. As he’s done all season, goaltender Nick Rose turned away solid scoring chances as though they were door-to-door salesmen, shutting the Shamrocks out completely in the all-important third period.

“I can’t tell you how many times in the playoffs we scored eight or nine goals and we had eight or nine different goal scorers,” said Orangeville head coach Matt Sawyer. “That’s what we are. We’re the best team. We don’t have the best players—we’re the best team in Canada.”

The Northmen raced out to a 5-1 lead in the first with Kory Kowalyk snapping in the lone Shamrocks marker. Victoria took over the second period, scoring three while holding the Northmen to just one goal to climb within two points, 6-4. When the third began, England wasted little time in tearing down whatever momentum Victoria had built up, scoring just over one minute into the period. Jones and Keogh put in the final two to put the game out of reach of B.C.’s best.

For Victoria, Michael Pires involved himself in all four goals, scoring one and assisting on three to end the tournament with 20 points, half goals and half assists. Kowalyk had one and one, while Cayle Ratcliff and Joel Henry scored one apiece. In addition to building his usual brick wall in net, Victoria goaltender Matt Flindell assisted on a second period Pires goal. Ratcliff was the recipient of the Jim Bishop Memorial Award for most sportsmanlike player.

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