January 15 2009
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Friday night, in Ste Anne the Huskies upset the defending champion Aces 3-1, then edged the St Adolphe Hawks 6-5 at home on Sunday night.

In Friday's triumph at Ste Anne, tied 1-1 after 40 minutes, Mike Martens scored what proved to be the winner just 34 seconds into the final frame and then 39 seconds later Scott Reimer added an insurance marker and the Huskies hung on for their biggest victory in several weeks. Derek Witty had opened the scoring for the Huskies in the middle stanza. Colin Lafreniere beat Matt Neufeld late in the first period for Ste Anne's only goal of the game.

The Mohawks lost 6-4 to Ste Anne.

Saturday at Ste Anne the Aces dumped the Mohawks 6-4. Tied 1-1 after the first, the Aces sprung for three unanswered markers in the second, two of them by Colin Funk, and hung on to win 6-4. Rob Chaput, Miguel Rondeau, Eric Hupe and Colin Lafreniere had the other Ste Anne markers. Responding for the Mohawks was Lawney Penner with a pair, Chris Wolgemuth and Matt Plett.

It is a light schedule this week because of Saturday's all-star game. On Thursday St Malo will host Ste Anne in a renewal of their rivalry, a rematch of last year's championship series. And then on Friday St Adolphe is at La Broquerie.

The CSHL all-stars will take on the Steinbach North Stars Allan Cup team Saturday at 8:00 p.m. at Steinbach. The North Stars line-up includes former Calgary Flames superstar Theoren Fleury.

CSHL all-stars to clash with Theoren Fleury and North Stars
Former NHL superstar Theoren Fleury and the Steinbach North Stars, the host team for the 2009 Smitty's Allan Cup this coming April in Steinbach, will take on the Carillon Senior Hockey League all-stars on Saturday, Jan. 18 at 8:00 p.m. in Steinbach.

Ste. Anne's Rick Recunyk, Neal Stoesz, Miguel Rondeau, and Kevin Lansard will be in the line-up for the All-Stars.

Last weekend the North Stars defeated two other senior all-star teams as they defeated the SEMHL all-stars 5-3 Saturday at Altona and then crushed the MEHL all-stars 12-1 Sunday at Beausejour. The North Stars are 10-0 in exhibition play this season.

January 8 2009

L ast year it was the Ste Anne Aces that bested the St Malo Warriors in the Carillon Senior Hockey League championship series. But the Warriors exacted a small form of revenge Sunday in Ste Anne as they crushed the Aces 7-2 in a key match-up that saw the first-place Warriors open up a five-point lead over the second place Aces.

St Malo has sprinted to an impressive 11-2-0-2 record this season for 24 points, while the Aces, with a game in hand on the Warriors, but five points back, are 9-4-1-0. The charging Habs are just a point back of the Aces with a record of 9-4-0-0. La Broquerie has a game in hand on the Aces and have played two fewer games than St. Malo.

At Ste Anne, the visiting Warriors opened up a 5-0 first period lead and it was essentially over from there as the teams skated to a 7-2 final. Justin Hebert and Jorin Bousquet led the Warriors with two goals each in the penalty-filled affair while Robert Lafournaise, Pat Gosselin and Jeremie Hebert added singles. Kevin Lansard and Eric Plourde added singles.

Aces edge Warriors to claim CSHL title
(from Carillon, April 3, 2008)

After St Malo scored three straight goals in the third to narrow the Ste Anne lead to 4-3 in game seven of the CSHL finals last Friday in Ste Anne, Aces' coach Phil Gregoire called a timeout to try and stop the bleeding and settle his team down in the dying minutes of this pressure packed game.

I n a classic struggle between two longtime hockey rivals, the Ste Anne Aces outlasted the St Malo Warriors 5-3 in the seventh and deciding game Friday night at Ste Anne to claim Carillon Senior Hockey League championship.

At a jam packed Ste Anne Arena, reminiscent of years gone by, the favoured Aces built up a seemingly insurmountable 4-0 second period lead, only to see the multi-talented Warriors storm back with three straight goals in the third in an intense and thrilling culmination to the season, with a championship hanging in the balance. Pressing with tremendous pressure to get the equalizer in the closing seconds, with goaltender Roger Storoschuk at the bench in favour of an extra attacker, the Warriors finally succumbed on an empty netter by Eric Laurin with 12 seconds left on the clock.

The clincher by Laurin capped off a memorable game for the young forward as the empty netter completed the hat trick for him after earlier notching a pair of first period markers. Laurin also had an assist for a four-point outing in a timely performance in leading the Aces to victory in game seven. Ste Anne built up a 4-0 lead and that held until the third when the Warriors rallied. Miguel Rondeau and Kelly Morrissette had the other St Anne markers.

Gaby Gosselin narrowed the Ste Anne lead to 4-1 just two minutes into the third and there was a small flicker of hope among the St Malo faithful that make the trek in droves to Ste Anne for the big game. Then the veteran Moe Gosselin, the spark plug of the Warriors went to work as he brought his team to within one as he scored goals a minute and half apart to make the score 4-3 with 6:12 remaining in regulation.

It doesn't get any better than this, a one goal in game seven, with the arena rocking and the Warriors in a full court press to tie. But the Aces had one ace left in their hand, and that was goaltender Neal Stoesz, 38, hands down the best goaltender in the league this year. And if there was a play-off MVP, he would have been a unanimous recipient. He was simply outstanding as he completed another chapter in his storied senior hockey career. Although three goals got by him in the third, Stoesz bore down to preserve the victory withstanding a ferocious St Malo attack in the final minutes.

During the ensuing celebration on the ice following the final whistle, Stoesz, with the championship trophy in one arm and his six-year-old daughter in the other, said "it feels great to win another championship, especially after losing the finals last year." Although this is the first CSHL title for the Aces in the five-year history of the league, Stoesz won several championships in the Hanover Tache Hockey League with both the Aces and La Broquerie, as have several members of this year's Aces hockey club.

The Aces finished second in the regular season standings and were competing in their second straight CSHL championship series, losing in five games to the La Broquerie Habs last year. St Malo was full marks for their appearance in the finals after upsetting the first place La Broquerie Habs, also the two-time defending league champions, in six game in the semi-finals.

And the Warriors kept it going in the finals as they took a 3-1 series lead on the Aces before the Aces chipped away and eventually prevailed in the championship series. Ste Anne made a convincing statement as the Aces clobbered the Warriors 9-1 in game five to get back into the series.

Ste Anne forward Rob Chaput complemented the Warriors for their play, "they have such a talented team, they came at us very hard early in the series, it surprised us a little bit." Chaput added when they were able to get the series to gave seven, "we were confident we would win, I'm glad we had Neal back there."

Ste Anne forced game six with a 3-1 victory last Wednesday in St Malo to even the series at 3-3. Rick Recunyk staked the Aces to a 1-0 lead midway through the first, and that lead held up until Recunyk made it 2-0 in the opening minute of the final frame. The Warriors subsequently had a goal waved off that would have made it 2-1 and shortly after the Aces made it 3-0 on a goal by Steph Gagnon with just over four minutes remaining. Robert Lafournaise beat Neal Stoesz for St Malo's lone goal with a minute and a half left in the third.

Aces' captain Rick Recunyk, who scored those two key goals from the blueline in game six says they fought hard to get back into the series and did what they had to do to win the championship.

Members of the 2007-08 Carillon Senior Hockey League champion Ste Anne Aces are: Chris Clavelle, Eric Plourde, Scott McMaster, Ryan Bram, Pierre Normandeau, Rheal Chaput, Rob Chaput, Kelly Morrissette, Eric Laurin, Daniel Dorge, Adam Levesque, Shane Magian, Tom Spellen, Miguel Rondeau, captain Rick Recunyk, Eric Hupe, Philip Dorge, Colin Funk, Steph Gagnon, Neal Stoesz, Pat Legal, Kevin Lansard, coaches Phil Gregoire and Bob Normandeau, manager Martin Lajoie and trainer Cornie Klassen.