Halifax Floor Hockey League
Three months after long-time Hacker captain John Dulong announced his retirement, the Hackers won their sixth championship in the ADC FHL’s nine season history. This season’s victim was the upstart ADC Lynx, who succumbed to the Hackers 13-3 in an anticlimactic championship game.
It was the third time in the past sixth seasons that these two powerhouses squared off against each other in the championship game. The Hackers had won both previous meetings, but never by more than two goals. The Hackers were playing in their record ninth consecutive appearance in the final game.
However, few wouldn’t argue that the biggest story surrounding the title affair was that of the announced retirement of the league’s all-time leading scorer John Price. Prior to Thursday’s game, Price announced that he would be taking a job in St. John and pursuing offers from rival New Brunswick teams. Lynx captain Richard Wanamaker, a self-professed master of mind games, took the opportunity to try to throw Price off his game. Wanamaker boldly announced to the press that Price wasn’t moving out of the province, but instead he was retiring since his recent marriage had left him “whipped”.
Despite the furor leading up Thursday night, the game itself got off to a cautious beginning. The first six minutes of the first period were marked by tight-checking and few good scoring chances. It was Price, seemingly with the word “whipped” still ringing in his head, who then tallied two quick markers to give the Hackers a 2-0 lead. Lynx forward Jason Royal, in search of his first championship ring, then converted a Craig Mercer pass to cut the lead in half at the end of the first period. Solid goaltending from Lynx all-star goalie Tony McCarthy and the Hackers rookie goalie Jim Bain kept the scoring at a minimum in the first period.
After being shutout in the first period, the league’s deadliest duo of Jamie Houghton and Donnie Bailey connected early in the second period to restore the Hackers two goal lead. After the game’s longest scoreless drought – seven minutes – Houghton and Bailey teamed up again to give the Hackers a 4-1 lead. When Price scored his hat-trick goal with less than three minutes remaining in the period, the Hackers seemed destined to cruise to an easy victory. But back-to-back goals by Royal and Lynx defenseman Tony Warnell cut the lead to 5-3, and more importantly breathed life back into a dejected Lynx bench. But the Lynx spirits were quickly deflated, as a late period giveaway led to a Bailey goal with a mere three seconds left in the second period.
The Hackers, buoyed by that Bailey goal, continued to play flawless defensive hockey in the third period. Time after time, the touted Lynx offense was stymied by the Hackers defense leading to a Hackers third period goal. Light-scoring Eddie Dwyer, Virag Pandya and Terry Davison, who together only accounted for 10 regular season goals, combined for four Hackers goals in the third period rout. Bailey, Price and Houghton each added single goals in the final period, and Bain stopped all seven third period shots to give the Hackers a 13-3 championship victory.
The 27 shots allowed by the Hackers was the second lowest total in playoff history. The Hackers surrendered 26 shots in the 1999B championship game, an 8-5 victory over the Lite-Sabres.
Price led all scorers with four goals and two assists and was named the game’s first star. Price now solely holds the record for most championships won with six, eclipsing John Dulong’s five titles. Fellow all-stars Houghton and Bailey were named the game’s second and third stars respectively, but it was the unsung defensemen of the Hackers who deserve much of the credit. Robert Tighe, Darren Derocher, Terry Davison, Eddie Dwyer and Scott Ferguson were relentless with their tenacity, and it showed in the final score.
This game marked the first time in the nine season history of the league that a goaltender other than John Dulong or Chris McMaster backstopped his team to victory. Bain becomes the first rookie goalie to win the championship since Dulong led his team to triumph in the league’s inaugural season.
For the second straight season, the final game was videotaped. With the 2002B final still in post-production, there is no anticipated release date for this season’s final game.
