INNISFAIL – By midway of the first period in Game 4 of the North Central Hockey League (NCHL) semifinals between the Innisfail Eagles and Wetaskiwin Longhorns the writing was on the wall.
There was just no way the Eagles were going to lose.
Nothing was going to stop the high-flying Innisfail senior men’s hockey team from fulfilling a pivotable part of this season’ s mission, getting into the NCHL finals in their inaugural season in the nine-team league.
The Eagles won handily on March 2 before a near capacity crowd at the Innisfail Twin Arena, unlike the past two games in the series that went into overtime.
The final score on March 2 was 4-1, and the Birds won the best-of-five series three games to one and move on to the best-of-seven NCHL finals against the defending champion Lacombe Generals.
It will be the next chapter of a fierce rivalry that goes back more than a dozen hockey seasons, most notably 2019 when the Generals beat the Eagles in the Allan Cup final.
“I'm so proud of what the guys did,” said Eagles head coach Ryan Dodd after the game. “It was sheer determination of will, and we outworked them, and we capitalized on our opportunities and put the puck in the net.
“Onward and upward from here.”
The Eagles opened the scoring in Game 4 at 1:27 of the first period on a goal by Chance Longjohn, who was chosen the game’s first star.
Wetaskiwin tied it up at 18:14 of the second period on a goal by Justin Faryna.
But Mike Marianchuk, the overtime hero of Game 3, one-timed a blast from the right wing at 13:58 of the second period to beat Longhorns’ goalie Devin Buffalo and the Birds had a 2-1 lead, which they never relinquished.
“Both of them were slap shots,” said Marianchuk, refusing to take any solo credit for his team’s playoff success. “It’s just a big team effort. We have an unreal group of guys in here, and it took all of us to win the series, and we're looking forward to playing Lacombe in the championship.”
The Birds added two more goals in the third period.
Dave Nippard scored at 12:51 and Longjohn added an empty netter at 1:40.
The Birds outshot Wetaskiwin by a wide margin of 48-25.
Eagles netminder Chance Griffith, playing his first season of senior men’s hockey, was not tested nearly as much as Wetaskiwin’s Buffalo but he stood tall between the pipes when he had to.
He was sensational for the Eagles in both overtime games against Wetaskiwin and is on a high he was able to contribute to the Birds’ playoff success.
“It feels pretty amazing. I had a pretty rough start trying to get comfortable in this league, because it's a big upgrade from the Mountain View Colts and Junior B,” said Griffith. “It took me a little bit but I found my groove and I'm just feeling comfortable and having fun out there.”
Across the rink in the visiting Wetaskiwin dressing room, Longhorns’ road captain Peter Vandermeer said the series against the Eagles was “hard fought” but Innisfail’s plan to win was simply better than the one his team wanted to execute.
“They (Innisfail) really clogged up the middle and took away our time and space,” said Vandermeer, the older brother of the Eagles’ Joe and Dan. “We've got a very skilled team with a lot of speed, but they limited our chances coming through the neutral zone.
“They killed penalties really well and their young goalie (Griffith) played great.”
The schedule for the NCHL finals is expected to be released later this week.
