Andonovski lifts Saints hockey to national title

March 23, 2016 · 0 Comments

By Jake Courtepatte

The St. Andrew’s College Saints concluded their 2016 first hockey campaign with yet another accolade.

The CISAA champions swept through all five of their matchups in the National Independent School Championship (NISIC) over the weekend, taking the final 3 – 2 over Ridley College on home ice at LaBrier Arena Sunday.

Facing a divisional foe in Appleby College twice in round robin play, the Saints were victorious both times in 6 – 5 and 4 – 3 games. Outside of the CISAA, the Saints were also perfect, defeating two Quebec teams in Ulysse Prep and Bishops College School.

Sunday’s final at LaBrier had SAC’s first major blip in the tournament, going down 1 – 0 less than a minute into the second period and unable to solve the Ridley tender.

Ryan O’Connell traded a goal with Ridley’s Matvev Skripchenko before the end of the period, with the home team down 2 – 1 heading to the third.

Felix Cote tied the game with ten minutes to go, and Corey Andonovski gave the Saints their first lead of the game three minutes later on a solo effort.

Cole Chapman was a wall between the pipes, shutting down the Ridley offense for the rest of the period and securing the victory. He made 39 stops on 41 shots faced.
Otto Saarimaa was named the James McCreath tournament MVP, and was joined by team captain Reid Yochim who was named a tournament All-Star.

The Saints entered and completed the tournament as the top-ranked team in the country by MyHockey rankings.