SYDNEY, N.S. — The Riverview Redmen claimed their second consecutive high school hockey tournament on Sunday when they defeated Truro’s CEC Cougars 5-2 in the championship game of the Panther Classic.

The Redmen, who also won the Memorial High School-hosted Mae Kibyuk Memorial Green and Gold Tournament in November, reached the final after beating the host Glace Bay Panthers 3-1 in one of two Saturday semifinal matches. CEC advanced to the championship game after edging Antigonish’s Dr. J. H. Gillis Royals 1-0 in the other semifinal.

With the Panthers out of the competition, the Canada Games Complex crowd was somewhat lighter than it would have been had the host team made the final.

Riverview opened the scoring halfway through the opening period when Andrew McCarron found himself alone in the slot and fired a wicked wrist shot that beat Cougars’ goalie Steven Jackson high on the glove side. The Redmen extended their lead just two minutes later when McCarron helped set up Kinnon Williams for a power play marker.

It then got worse for the mainland side as McCarron scored his second goal of the game to give Riverview a 3-0 lead.

But perhaps reminding themselves of their 3-2 round robin win over the Redmen on Saturday, the mainland side fought back and finally got on the score board when Rylan McIntyre bulged the twine behind Riverview goalie Michael MacMullen. However, the eventual champs would extend their lead to 4-1 on a goal by captain Dylan MacDonald.

CEC cut into the deficit on a late third period goal by Aiden Pitcher before the Redmen salted it away on Williams’ second of the contest into an empty net.

Riverview outshot the Cougars 26-19.

The other three teams that competed in this year’s Panther Classic were the Sydney Academy Wildcats, Memorial Marauders and the Sackville High Kingfishers. The host Panthers captured the previous edition of the tournament with a 2-1 overtime victory over Riverview.

The Redmen will now go for the season sweep of the three eastern Cape Breton high school hockey tournaments when they host the Red Cup in February. They made it to the final of last year’s tournament but lost 5-0 to the Halifax West Warriors.

Meanwhile, the action resumes in the Cape Breton High School Hockey League on Thursday when Sydney Academy travels to North Sydney to take on Memorial at the Emera Centre Northside. The puck drops at 7:20 p.m. And the Glace Bay-Riverview rivalry resumes Friday when the Panthers visit the Redmen at the County Recreation Centre in Coxheath at 7:30 p.m.
 

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