Kingston, Ont. (February 7, 2019) – The RMC Paladins (6-19-2) reclaimed the Carr-Harris Cup in dominant fashion on Thursday night, beating the Queen’s Gaels (18-9-0) 5-1 in front of a Carr-Harris record crowd of 3,888 at the Leon’s Centre.
Paladins head coach Richard Lim credited RMC’s effort from everyone on the roster in the victory.
“Our senior guys led from front, right from the drop of the puck when five of them started the game,” he said. “Our younger guys jumped on their backs and followed their lead, and away we went.”
The Paladins opened the scoring on rookie Liam Stagg’s (Halifax, N.S.) first goal of the game 12 minutes into the period just after an RMC power play. With an assist on the play, Cameron Lamport (Newmarket, Ont.) extended his point-streak to nine games.
Four minutes later, Rhett Willcox (Surrey, B.C.) took a drop pass from Bennett Huber (Calgary, Alta.) and beat Gaels goalie Justin Fazio (Sarnia, Ont.) with a slapshot to the top corner, elating the Paladins faithful.
It was more of the same from RMC in the second period, as Alex MacDonald (Windsor Junction, N.S.) netted another for the Paladins 32 seconds into the second frame. Just over a minute later, Stagg was left alone in front of the Queen’s net, tipping in his second goal of the game.
Spencer Abraham (Campbellville, Ont.) scored for the Gaels to break Austin Hannaford’s (Calgary, Alta.) shutout, marking his 116th point for Queen’s, which ties him with Aaron Fansen for first all-time in points for a tricolour defenceman.
Scoring the final goal of the night, Lamport skated the length of the ice before burying the breakaway goal five-hole.
Hannaford ended the game with 46 saves for RMC to the sound of Paladins fans chanting his name.
Stagg and Abraham were named the game’s MVPs, each earning the Mary Carr-Harris Most Valuable Player Award for their respective teams.
Queen’s hosts McGill on Saturday in their final game of the regular season before starting their playoff run.
The Paladins will close out the season on Sunday when they host the Nipissing Lakers at 2 p.m. RMC will honour their seven graduating players before puck-drop: David Savery, Owen Gill, Bennett Huber, Dylan Giberson, Deric Boudreau, Torin O’Brien, and Michael Desgroseillers.
“I couldn’t be happier for our graduating players,” Lim said. “They’ve worked so hard for four years for this program, on and off the ice; building the culture. It’s awesome for them to have a Carr-Harris win in their last season.”