 | "Home, Sweet Home" was all too certainly the case for the University of Alberta Golden Bears on Monday as Ben Thompson of Coaldale, Alberta put home two goals in a miraculous fashion to give the Bears their 11th National Championship in the 2005 Telus University Cup at Edmonton's Rexall Place......In much the same fashion as in the "Miracle on 74th street" at the end of game 3 of the 1997 conference Quarter-finals between the Edmonton Oilers and the Dallas Stars, a last minute rally in the third capped by an overtime win. |
Thompson scored the tying goal with just 0:23 seconds to go in a 3-2 game against the Number 11 ranked Saskatchewan Huskies in front of 10,331 screaming fans and then scored again at 5:37 of the first overtime to bring home the Championship to the Bears.
As a student of the University of Alberta myself, and a longtime Golden Bear fan I jumped out of my chair when I saw the score, as it's been a tough road since the back to back championships that ended in the 2000 season.
It hasn't been all bad for Rob Daum and company; they headed to four straight University Cups as the top regular season team in the country but, unfortunately only one team can ever come away with the Championship and for these boys they wound up taking the fall a few times.
The mood on campus was sombre last year when the Golden Bears lost a tough semi-final after putting together a dominant overall regular season record of 40-0-5, but I imagine this year spirits are a lot higher; I only wish I was there to see it.
"There was no game like this, that's for sure," said Thomson, the second year forward with the Bears whom I shared a couple of seminars with last year, "I almost peed my pants."
Trent Adamus, Jon Barkman, and Keegan McAvoy scored for the Huskies, while Harlan Anderson and Richard Hamula both scored for the Golden Bears before Thompson put away his double. The Bears outshot the Huskies 41-21 with one of the Bears' valuable Edson, AB products, B.J. Boxma, earning the win.
After thrashing UQTR 11-0 in their opening game of the tournament with a little help from Ben Kilgour of Leduc, AB who led the way with a huge six point performance among other big efforts, the Golden Bears took out the University of Manitoba 5-1, en route to the all-Canada West final game against the U of S Huskies.
On behalf of myself, the boys at Gongshow Hockey and all of the members of the website I'd like to congratulate coach Rob Daum and the Golden Bears on another hugely successful season and of course on their 11th National Championship.
Way to do our school, and our province proud boys. |
