The Stallions began the year a month behind their North East Senior Hockey League (NESHL) counterparts while awaiting Hockey Canada approval.
They found success soon after taking the ice, winning the regular season title with a 13-5-2 record. They defeated Lameque Au Ptit Mousse in the first round of the playoffs in six games and clinched the league title Friday at MacLauchlan Arena with a 7-4 victory over the Elsipogtog Hawks. Montague won the best-of-seven final in five games.
“It’s pretty sweet. The boys worked hard all year,” captain Devan Gunn said. “It’s been a long battle, but I’m proud of all the boys and I couldn't ask for a better team to play with.”
“It's nice to bring it back to P.E.I., ” added defenceman Spencer MacDonald. “We had a lot of adversity in the start, but it turns out in the end we played together and pulled (a championship) off.”
Head coach Bernard Cheverie said the goal entering the season was to play its best and try to get into the playoffs.
“We did that,” he said. “We won the league, then we won the championship, so they’ve accomplished everything they had to accomplish.”
David Mazurek had three goals and an assist to lead the way in the championship-clinching game while Chris Doyle had four assists and Steven Brazil had a goal and two helpers.
Gunn and Nick Parker each chipped in a goal and an assist while Stephen MacInnis also scored. Stephen Gould, MacDonald, Jamie MacIntyre, Dylan McGuigan and Alex Peddle each chipped in an assist.
Phil Farrow scored twice for the Hawks while Scotty Sack had three helpers. Rankyn Campbell had a goal and an assist while Trey Lewis also scored.
Wayne Savage recorded the win.
Elsipogtog led 2-1 after the first period but trailed 5-3 heading to the third.
“It’s a lot sweeter to win it here in P.E.I. in front of the crowd, the fans who came out all year,” Gunn said from the ice at MacLauchlan Arena, as The Four Seasons’ song “December, 1963 (Oh What A Night)” played in the background.
Cheverie credited the players working together for the team’s success.
“They're a good, close group of guys,” he said. “When we went into the draft (we were) looking for guys that we knew could be compatible together.”
MacDonald played three seasons with the St. Thomas Tommies and had graduated before the university folded its program following the 2015-16 season. He was unsure if he would play much hockey this season when he received a call from Stallions officials asking if he was interested in playing for them.
“I said, ‘You know what, I’ll come out and I’ll try a practice’ and I ended up hanging around. It was pretty easy to stay, (there’s) a lot of good guys around here,” he explained.
MacDonald was named the playoffs MVP after recording 14 points in nine games while Doyle received the regular season award after scoring 46 points in 15 games.
While it was a great first season for the Stallions, players and officials have raised the possibility of trying to get to the Allan Cup in the future.
The team would have to win an Atlantic championship in order to compete in the national senior tournament.
Playing for an Allan Cup would be a neat experience for MacDonald, whose father, Wilf, played for the Armour Fence Islanders team that won the title in 1991 and is in the P.E.I. Sports Hall of Fame.
“It would certainly be nice to kind of share something he has,” Spencer said.
