Liam Maguire: Manotick Mariners Win 6-3 vs. North Dundas Rockets, Spoil Undefeated Season

MANOTICK, ON - The Manotick Mariners hosted the undefeated North Dundas Rockets in Manotick for their second and final head-to-head matchup of the regular season, where they emerged victorious in a spirited 6-3 win to spoil the Rockets' perfect unbeaten season record.

A very special thank you to our fans, season ticket holders, sponsors and community partners for your support during the Manotick Mariners' inaugural season. The final regular season game against the North Dundas Rockets marks 10 consecutive sold out home games in Manotick!

Manotick native, trivia expert, author, and hockey's greatest historian Liam Maguire has you covered with a special edition of our 'Weekend Recap'.

"The hardest thing to do when comparing the present to the past, is give enough credit to the present when something exceptional happens. I believe I witnessed a present event on Sunday (February 9th) that belongs in rarified air of Manotick sports.

In the long and storied history of the village of Manotick going back to Jack Crawford's hockey and ball days- (Jack was the greatest athlete in the history of the 692)- Sunday's senior hockey game between the Manotick Mariners and the North Dundas Rockets was the greatest sporting event I have ever witnessed in my sixty years (59 but who's counting) of being in the area.

Let me put it in context for you. In the big picture, the game meant nothing. Both teams were assured of their respective spots in their divisions, their playoff opponents set but In the smaller picture, it meant quite a bit.

The Rockets were undefeated this season. This was the last game, a rescheduled game at that. The Rockets are the class of the league. I have stated before, in their attempt at a 3-peat last year they lost a hell of a final series to Ganonoque in five games and I firmly believe if they had Gudbransson and De Haan ( two of their top D last year) they would have won. That said, it was a hell of a final and they picked up right where they left off this season, even better possibly, and that included a win over Manotick earlier this season. Not on this day.

The Mariners have played to mostly full houses this season- this crowd was a notch above that. In my life, I have never seen this number of fans in the Manotick Arena. And I've been going to games there since the rink opened in 1975. Every single place you could stand and watch was full. Every seat in the stands was full. As always a good contingent from North Dundas rolled in. The young boys standing glass side in front of us provided great theatre as they cheered on the Mariners. In-house emcee 'Bobby' did an awesome job on the microphone, the rest was up to the guys on the ice and wow did they deliver.

What makes hockey so different from other sports is the speed and physicality. Both were on full display this past Sunday.

It was clear what the game plan was early. The Rockets mandate was to take out Gus. (Former Ottawa 67 Brett Gustavsen). If I was a parent of a smaller child who was being told their size would probably be an issue for them to compete at the higher levels, I would bring that child to a Mariners game and have them watch Gus play. In overall stature he may be as small a player as there is on the roster. Then you factor in his heart and compete level and he becomes one of the fiercest competitors to ever wear Manotick on their jersey. And the village and area have had many.

The viciousness directed toward Gus was so blatant it really was tough to watch from the stands. So much so that Chris Droeske, aka Bubba, who was beside me for the first period had to leave because he said he was going to go ask T if he could dress for the second period. Chris was the nuclear deterrent the original Senior team in Manotick, the Kings, signed to help deal with the Smith Falls roster. That's a whole other story for another time. Suffice to say, he would have liked to have joined the party - as would have Coach T.

Keep in mind, Gus and Ryan Lough ( who also had an absolutely fantastic game) were former Rockets and part of their winning teams. They both have many friends on the Rockets but as we know with hockey- once the puck drops a lot of friendships go out the window. Several of the Rocket players took massive runs at Gus and finally they got him, less than ten minutes into the first period, Shane Bakker, one of their behemoth players ( is he related to the Manotick Station Bakker's?) ran Gus in the back right corner and administered one of the worst cheap shots I've seen in hockey in a long time. He caught Gus up high, actually hit him so hard his body was perpendicular and Gus collapsed on the ice, not moving.

Bakker was of course ejected. Gus was down for a while, eventually got up with help and was aided off the ice. Inexplicably, after taking the rest of the period off and with the intermission time, somehow Gus was able to return for the second. Don't know how, but he came back.

The Rockets are an older team, way bigger, much more experienced and it looked like men against boys for much of the first 30-40 minutes. Thing is about the Mariners, they don't quit. They get hit but they get up and keep going and they push back and they keep driving the net and generating offense amidst the assaults and after going down 3-0 they slowly started to chip away.

Liam Dennison scored on a 5 on 3. As some of you ardent fans will recall, Liam, great name BTW , scored the first Mariner goal ever to start this inaugural season. He is a pillar on D for them and he got the ball rolling. Jeff Hayes hammered their second home from a wild goalmouth scramble as a series of other penalties expired and that goal came with one second left on the clock.

Hayes scored his second of the game 42 seconds into the third and just like that - tie game. This unreal comeback was not lost on the crowd who were going nuts in the stands as they had mostly taken it from the vocal Rocket fans to that point. Love it when a plan comes together.

Rockets goalie Matt Jenkins is an excellent 'tender but he'd probably like to have the 4th Mariner goal back, a sneaky back hand shot by Branden Makara, a former Cumberland Grad, Gloucester Ranger and Orlando Solar Bear in the ECHL. That goal was short handed coming during a 5min major to Justin Gagnon of the Mariners, my buddy from Rideau View Golf Club.

Gagnon delivered a pretty good hit at the blue line to Rockets captain Derek Froats but no question it was too high and he deserved the major. To not only defend the major but score on it may be considered the most impactful five minutes in Mariner hockey this season.

Then the goal came that we were all hoping for. Gus fired home Manotick's 5th after a series of great plays in the Ozone and as only he can, a victory twirl in front the Rocket faithful who love to jeer him was so appropriate. What a scene, what a game!

Jeff Hayes, the wiley vet on the Mariners completed his hat trick to make the final 6-3. Hayes is a former Oshawa General who played with John Tavares among many others who ended up in the NHL. He was five years at Carleton University on their hockey team before a four year run overseas in Sweden and Germany. What a game he had Sunday, what a game a ton of the Manotick players had.

Hayes and Ryan Lough were the first two stars. So many others had shifts, or periods or the whole game that stood out to me, I could name the whole roster. Lough and Jonathan Cyr are exceptional skaters. Again, you minor hockey coaches, bring your teams to these games. Every one of these guys played at a very high level and their talent is so apparent. He didn't get on the score sheet but Tyler Melvin's shot is NHL worthy. Watching him in warmup was incredible. He can absolutely wire it. Others who had exceptional shifts that really caught my eye - Timothy Cousineau, Jacob Renaud-Viau, both Makera and Cyr - Jonathan is so important because he can supply some of the secondary scoring and take some of the pressure off of Gus and Ryan- and by the way, that was the most physical I've seen Cyr play - it adds a massive dimension to his game when he plays like that because he's so immensely talented; and I have to give a shoutout to Berky, goaltender Berk Berkeliev. He matched Jenkins and like his teammates despite being down 3-0 he fought through some wild scrambles, found pucks through screens, was literally in the battles in front of the net, took a penalty lol, I just love the guy's reflexes. When he's on he's unreal good.

If there was one downer on the day it was the loss of Dman Corey Tam who went down in a collision with Mitchell Gibson. Talking to him after it looks like an MCL injury and his loss will be felt greatly. Here's hoping you have a speedy recovery my friend. Tam is a former Nepean Raider, played three years of NCAA hockey at SUNY-Brockport and was with Fayetteville in the SPHL before joining Manotick. He's an extremely solid D.

So there you have it folks. The atmosphere in the Manotick barn was electric. Some of the guys I spotted in the crowd, Tim Kelly, from River Road Kelly fame; Jeff Holmes, one of the Holmes' from Osgoode- a legendary athletic family; Steve Wilson, a former Nepean Raider, a standout with Cornell in Div 1; and a 4-year pro including two years in the KHL; Danny Krauser, another former local standout with Pembroke and Hawksbury, played overseas and senior with an insane shot. Just a few of the amazing crowd to watch the Mariners.

With the crowd alternating the Ole, Ole singing with nah, nah, nah, nah, hey hey goodbye, it made for an incredible spectacle both on and off the ice as the game came to an end. In my life, it's as good an event as I've witnessed in or outside of that building in the village or surrounding area. The Rocket fans have been spoiled. They have had excellence for several years. Full houses, great support, solid ownership and infrastructure. For one day at least, a historic day at that, this hockey club of young men made the 692 so proud - at the expense of the giants of the Eastern Conference.

Onward boys! Playoffs start this weekend folks! Game time 7:30pm Saturday night, February 15th. Come on down, we've got entertainment for the whole family! Congrats on a great first regular season Manotick Mariners!" - Liam Maguire