Wild crowd pumps up the volume for Hockey Day high school games

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The St. Mary’s Mustangs completed a two-game sweep of the East vs. West High School Challenge Cup Friday at a nearly full and deafeningly boisterous Harry Lumley Bayshore Community Centre.

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Both the girls’ and boys’ teams from the city’s high schools played back-to-back games in front of a rowdy crowd of students bussed to the rink from nearby schools to help dial up the decibel levels.

The games were scheduled as part of the Scenic City’s jam-packed Hockey Day in Canada festivities with appearances by Canadian Olympians Victoria Bach and Cassie Campbell-Pascall as well as former NHLers Anthony Stewart and Andrew Ference.

Bach and Campbell-Pascall even jumped behind the benches for the girls’ game.

“It’s crazy. Just having her out there and telling us what to do and giving us advice was awesome,” said Mustangs’ captain Grace Adriaanse. “We’re out here working as hard as we can and I loved having her on the bench with us, it was amazing.”

Adriaanse netted a hat-trick as the Mustangs pulled off a 5-3 victory over its cross-town rival in the earlier game.

“We’re out here to win, but we’re also out here to have fun,” Adriaanse said. “I’ve never had this many people sit and watch me play before. It’s just awesome being out here.”

Adriaanse scored the game-winning goal and added an empty-net marker to seal the victory while capping off her hat trick. Elise Nair and Lindsay Cumming added markers for the Mustangs.

Emma MacDonnell, Karissa Rasmussen and Natalie Madill scored the Wolves’ goals.

Mustangs’ head coach Mike Kirby said he was thankful to have Campbell-Pascall behind the bench.

“She wasn’t just cheerleading. She broke the game down and gave them great suggestions. You probably saw, we were a little bit short on the bench, short some players, and she had some good insights on how to manage that . . . it was pretty special,” Kirby said.

With the Wolves clawing away at the Mustangs’ lead most of the game, and a rabid crowd of students heeding the call of the “LOUDER” messages being played on the video board at centre ice, Kirby said he knew his team would need to manage their emotions and keep calm.

“Once we got ahead it was just keep pushing, keep pushing. Then near the end, it was breaking down how many shifts were left, to help the girls visualize and know they could do it,” Kirby said. “They never went away . . . we had a 3-1 lead at one point and, I didn’t say anything, but I was nervous with that lead.”

The Wolves narrowed the lead to 4-3 late in the game, but couldn’t score the equalizer and eventually, Adriaanse found the empty net as the Wolves pushed with an extra attacker on the ice.

“That was really special for Grace. That shows her leadership. That shows her skill and ability,” Kirby said. “When she has a lane she goes. For her to score a hat-trick and a number of important goals to give us that momentum and energy to keep pushing forward shows her leadership and what a gifted athlete she is.”

The boys took the ice shortly following a chuck-a-puck contest run by the OSDSS leadership class.

Mustangs’ captain Nate Oniszeczko scored the game-winner with a third-period power play marker as the ‘Stangs topped the Wolves 3-2.

“That was all my d-partner Sean Moorehead. He zipped it across and I shot it far-side. The goalie leaked over and gave me some room,” Oniszeczko said before quickly mentioning the Wolves goaltender, Myles Playter, is one of his good friends.

“It felt kind of nice to score that one on him and for it to be the game-winner, I mean, a dream come true. I’m going to remember this forever,” he said.

Ryan Calhoun and Hayden Hofstetter scored for St. Mary’s in the game while Ryan Cranny netted both OSDSS goals.

“This is the biggest crowd, loudest atmosphere, the best game I’ve ever played, easily, Oniszeczko said. “We play against each other day in and day out. I’ve been here for four years now and it’s been a rivalry every year. It’s a lot of fun. I’m really happy this could happen.”