The Sydney Academy Wildcats will host the Riverview Redmen in Game 1 of their Cape Breton High School Hockey League first round playoff series today.

Game time is 7 p.m. at the Membertou Sport and Wellness Centre.

The Redmen, who finished first overall in the four-team league, lost only one game in the regular season — to the Glace Bay Panthers. As for the Wildcats, the team went 0-18-0-0 in the regular season.

The 41st annual Red Cup Showcase high school hockey tournament came to a close on Sunday with the host Riverview Redmen capturing the school's ninth Red Cup title at the Cape Breton County Recreation Centre.

Following the championship contest, the Red Cup committee announced its award winners.

Most valuable player Andrew McCarron of the Riverview Redmen was given the Bob MacKenzie Memorial Award after scoring both the game tying and winning goals in the championship game against the Auburn Drive Eagles. McCarron was also the tournament's leading goal scorer.

Michael MacMullen of the Redmen was named the most outstanding goalie, while teammate Blake Cox received the Marty Chiasson Memorial Award.

Other award winners saw Jack Meet of Lockview take home the Barney Peters Memorial Award, while Tyler Puma of Auburn Drive was named the committee all-star.

Team sportsman awards were given to Brady MacLean (Riverview), Brad MacLean (Memorial), Tytan Donovan (Sydney Academy), Alec Campbell (Glace Bay), Jarrod Chiasson (Auburn Drive), Curtis Davidson (Horton), Will Caines (Avon View) and Cameron Gannon (Lockview).

The Glace Bay Panthers opened their Cape Breton High School Hockey League playoffs with a 5-1 win over the Memorial Marauders in Game 1 of the best-of-three series at the Canada Games Complex on Tuesday.

David Beaton, Colin Rosta, Dylan MacDonald, Tyler Mortimer and Xavier Johnson each scored goals for the Panthers.

Nick Targett had the lone goal for the Marauders.

Nick Bigley made 11 saves for Glace Bay. Jonathan Dolomont stopped 17 of 22 shots in the loss for Memorial.

Glace Bay and Memorial will meet in Game 2 of the series on Thursday at 7:15 p.m. at the Emera Centre Northside in North Sydney.

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Andrew McCarron capped off a memorable Red Cup by scoring both the tying and winning goals to lead his Riverview Redmen to their first championship title since 2013 with a 4-3 victory over Cole Harbour’s Auburn Drive Eagles.

McCarron drove the standing room only crowd of about 1,200 fans into a frenzy when he evened the game at 3-3 with less than six minutes left in the third period. From that point on the host Redmen played like a team possessed and were finally rewarded for their dominance when McCarron scored the winning goal with just 1:16 remaining on the clock.

The ending was a dream come true for the 17-year-old Grade 12 student from Coxheath who dedicated the tournament to the memory of his grandfather, Terry McCarron, who passed away last summer at the age of 80.

The big forward, who didn’t make the Redmen in his Grade 10 year, was one of many returning players who suffered the agony of defeat in 2018 when they lost the title game 5-0 to Halifax West. McCarron scored a Cape Breton High School Hockey League-leading 27 goals this season as Riverview finished with a 17-1-0-0 record.

But he wasn’t the only happy Redmen player on Sunday. Captain Dylan MacDonald was only too thrilled to hoist the Red Cup following the victory. MacDonald and McCarron, who led the Red Cup in scoring, were named the tournament’s co-MVPs, while Riverview goalie Michael MacMullen was named the competition’s top goalie.

The visitors opened the scoring early in the first period on the first of Hunter Canning’s two goals before Carter Harnish evened the affair just 19 seconds later. Blake Cox gave the hosts the lead with a power play goal before the first period was finished.

Auburn scored the only goal of the second period when defenceman Logan Gillis bulged the twine behind MacMullen. Then, in the third period, the Eagles took the lead on Canning’s second of the game.

Cue the comeback. Cue McCarron’s wicked wrist shot.

His game-tying goal sent the crowd into a frenzy and his game-winning goal, a blistering shot that caught the top corner of the net, was met with even more cheering and applause, the majority of it coming from the students’ sea of red area behind the Redmen bench.

In Sunday’s consolation, the Glace Bay Panthers suffered a 4-2 loss to the Lockview Dragons.

Lockview captain Jack Meek led the way with a hat trick and Ben Hicks added a single. Xavier Johnson and Connor MacIntyre replied for Glace Bay.

Ty Allison stopped 18 shots in the win, while Coleton Boutilier made 26 saves in the loss.

Andrew McCarron capped off a memorable Red Cup by scoring both the tying and winning goals to lead his Riverview Redmen to their first championship title since 2013 with a 4-3 victory over Cole Harbour’s Auburn Drive Eagles.

McCarron drove the standing room only crowd of about 1,200 fans into a frenzy when he evened the game at 3-3 with less than six minutes left in the third period. From that point on the host Redmen played like a team possessed and were finally rewarded for their dominance when McCarron scored the winning goal with just 1:16 remaining on the clock.

The ending was a dream come true for the 17-year-old Grade 12 student from Coxheath who dedicated the tournament to the memory of his grandfather, Terry McCarron, who passed away last summer at the age of 80.

The big forward, who didn’t make the Redmen in his Grade 10 year, was one of many returning players who suffered the agony of defeat in 2018 when they lost the title game 5-0 to Halifax West. McCarron scored a Cape Breton High School Hockey League-leading 27 goals this season as Riverview finished with a 17-1-0-0 record.

But he wasn’t the only happy Redmen player on Sunday. Captain Dylan MacDonald was only too thrilled to hoist the Red Cup following the victory. MacDonald and McCarron, who led the Red Cup in scoring, were named the tournament’s co-MVPs, while Riverview goalie Michael MacMullen was named the competition’s top goalie.

The visitors opened the scoring early in the first period on the first of Hunter Canning’s two goals before Carter Harnish evened the affair just 19 seconds later. Blake Cox gave the hosts the lead with a power play goal before the first period was finished.

Auburn scored the only goal of the second period when defenceman Logan Gillis bulged the twine behind MacMullen. Then, in the third period, the Eagles took the lead on Canning’s second of the game.

Cue the comeback. Cue McCarron’s wicked wrist shot.

His game-tying goal sent the crowd into a frenzy and his game-winning goal, a blistering shot that caught the top corner of the net, was met with even more cheering and applause, the majority of it coming from the students’ sea of red area behind the Redmen bench.

In Sunday’s consolation, the Glace Bay Panthers suffered a 4-2 loss to the Lockview Dragons.

Lockview captain Jack Meek led the way with a hat trick and Ben Hicks added a single. Xavier Johnson and Connor MacIntyre replied for Glace Bay.

Ty Allison stopped 18 shots in the win, while Coleton Boutilier made 26 saves in the loss.

Kinnon Williams scored the overtime winner at 7:03 of the extra frame to lead the Riverview Redmen past the Avon View Avalanche in Red Cup Showcase action at the Cape Breton County Recreation Centre on Friday.

Williams, who was invited to the Cape Breton Screaming Eagles training camp last August, was left all alone in front of the Avalanche net and made no mistake, beating Avon View netminder Joe MacDonald to give the host Redmen the extra point.

Dylan MacDonald and Andrew McCarron scored goals in regulation time for the Redmen (2-0) in front of more than 1,000 fans at the Coxheath venue.

Matt Benedict and Dan Lord netted goals for the Avalanche (0-1).

Michael MacMullen picked up in the win in goal for Riverview. MacDonald shouldered the loss for Avon View. Statistics were not available.

After a scoreless first period, which saw the Redmen have three breakaways all of which were stopped by MacDonald, the Avalanche opened the scoring with goals by Benedict and Lord, giving the visitors a 2-0 lead heading into the second intermission.

Riverview cut the Avon View lead to one at 7:09 of the third period with McCarron’s third goal of the tournament.

With the net empty, Redmen captain Dylan MacDonald’s shot was thought to have hit the post behind Joe MacDonald with 21 seconds left and played continued for a brief second, before the on-ice official signaled the puck had crossed the goal line, tying the game 2-2.

In overtime, both Riverview and Avon View had a number of quality chances to win the game, before Williams potted the overtime winner.

Final shot totals were not available.

Lockview Dragons 6, Memorial Marauders 1

Jack Meek scored twice to lead the Dragons to the win over Marauders.

Brayden Hunt, Cameron Best, Ryan MacDonald and Ryan DeWolfe also scored goals for Lockview (1-0).

Mackenzie Erickson had the lone goal for the Memorial (0-2).

Ty Allison picked up the win in goal for Lockview. Jonathan Dolomont was tagged with the loss for Memorial.