Captains Courageous: Braley and Eldridge Lead Bourne to First Canal Cup Win Since ’06

BOURNE — Packed to the rafters with hockey-obsessed fans, grandmothers, cousins and everyone in between, this 33rd Annual Cape Cod Canal Cup battle had heroes, heartbreak, and even an ending Hollywood could not have scripted better.

Bourne High school senior co-captain Mitchell Elridge is embraced on the ice by teammate Judson Morris as the rest of the Canalmen race over to pile on top after last night’s 4-3 sudden death overtime win in the 33rd Annual Canal Cup in Bourne.
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For the first time since 2006, the Bourne Canalmen captured the heralded Canal Cup last night with a 4-3, sudden death overtime victory against archrival Sandwich High, thus ending the Blue Knights’ eight-year reign.

The end of that reign came at the hands of Bourne senior co-captains Austin Braley — who recorded a hat trick en route to the 3-3 regulation time tie — and Mitchell Eldridge whose heroic moment likely bought him a lifetime of free coffee and fond memories after his game-winning goal just 15 seconds into the overtime frame. The foundation of the John Gallo Ice Arena shook when Eldridge’s shot made it past Sandwich back-up goalie Craig Hatfield, in sharp contrast with the stone-cold, collective look of decimation amongst the prostrate Blue Knights and their stunned bench.

As the Canalmen tossed their sticks and gloves and helmets into the air, scattering gear like a post-war battlefield across the ice, the Blue Knights could do little but watch the celebration that ensued and listen to the thunder of the Bourne crowd.

But none of that celebration erased the Herculean effort that Sandwich put forth last night in one what some say was the best-played, hardest-hitting high school hockey game in these parts this season. The Blue Knights literally machine-gunned shots upon Canalmen goalie Jack Lacasse from the moment the first puck was dropped, to the very end of regulation. In the first period alone, Sandwich out-shot Bourne, 13-5, but it was Bourne and its estimable point-tallying captain Braley who got the upper hand.

Following a first period scrum in and around Lacasse’s crease, Sandwich junior forward Zach Silva got nabbed trying to flick Lacasse’s goalie stick down the ice and was called for interference (7:04). The penalty proved critical for the Canalmen. Just 0:37 seconds into the power play, Braley uncorked a slap shot from the point (6:27) straight past Sandwich starting goalie Matt Long for a 1-0 lead (assisted by Eldridge and Dawson Prophett).

The first period would end with Bourne ahead, 1-0.

In between periods, as two, not one, two Zamboni’s speedily prepped the ice for the next act of this increasingly dramatic affair, 2013 hit single “Take Me to Church” by HOZIER blasted through the Gallo public address system speakers, painting an almost surreal setting as the massive throng of Sandwich and Bourne faithful stomped and hooted in anticipation of the two teams’ return.

The Canalmen hoist the Canal Cup for the first time in nearly a decade.
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And was that return ever so poignant as it was simultaneously deflating.

At 10:44 of the second period, a Bourne slapshot on Long bounced into the air in front of the net and it deflected off of another Bourne player’s body into the goal as a half dozen from both teams careened into the goaltender. The referees conferred and opted to call the goal off, but the scrum in front apparently did something to injure or re-injure Long, the Sandwich netminder as he lay on the ice.

Long recovered — that time — but his teammates soon got pinned for a pair of penalties that left the Blue Knights terrifically shorthanded.

Enter Sandwich hero, Blue Knight junior forward Brady Doherty.

At the 9:12 mark the piercing screams of the Sandwich fans rattled the glass as Doherty fired the puck past Lacasse to tie the game at 1-1 on a shorthanded goal.

And the score appeared it would stay that way in spite of a more-equal barrage of shots between the two rivals (9-11 in the second period).

That is, of course, until Bourne’s Braley got a whiff of an opportunity when Sandwich opted to remove starting goalie Long from the game, sensing his injury was more than previously estimated.

Taking advantage of some last-second, quick and sharp passing by teammates Jacob Davis and William Conway, Braley unleashed a laser slapshot that just inserted back-up goalie Hatfield never had a chance of seeing let alone blocking. With just 0:38 left in the period, Bourne took a 2-1 lead and it took that lead into the locker room at intermission, as Bon Jovi’s Livin’ On A Prayer rocked the house.

Sandwich High School’s Brady Doherty was named Most Valuable Player following his team’s tough, 4-3 overtime loss to Bourne in the 33rd Annual Canal Cup last night at Gallo Ice Arena in Bourne.
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The birth of another hero ensued at the outset of the third period.

Enter, this time, Sandwich junior defenseman Owen Caggiano. Taking advantage of a suddenly beleagured Lacasse who was immediately pelted with Blue Knight close-range shots to start the stanza, Caggiano buried the puck in the back of the net at the 10:42 mark to tie it at 2-2 (assisted by Jack LaRochelle and Matt Peterson).

Just 40 seconds later, it looked like Bourne’s hopes were crushed when Doherty screamed in all alone on Lacasse for his second goal (10:02/assisted by Matt Brooks and Jordan Leary). Doherty would be recognized after the game as the Sandwich Most Valuable Player.

Sandwich had a 3-2 lead, staging a comeback comprised of nothing less than pure heart.

Time began to fade for the Canalmen both literally and figuratively as the din in Gallo grew anxious. Carhartt-wearing fathers and Northface-wearing teens paced back and forth in the rink’s side alley. Young siblings asked nailbiting moms if it was “time to go yet.”

Re-enter Braley.

One of the Cape’s top scorers this season, Braley registered a crowd-exploding hat trick with 6:50 left in regulation, tying the score at 3-3 (assisted by Tomas Hidenfelter). Braley would be rewarded after the game withe the Bourne Most Valuable Player Award. But before that moment happened, six minutes of some of the most intense hockey seen this season ensued as both teams threw everything at each other in an attempt to win. Sandwich’s Brooks, an assistant captain, took a point-blank screamer at Lacasse with just 30 seconds left and Lacasse made an almost unlikely game-saving glove save.

The game went to sudden death and in the sort of hazy fog of the next 15 seconds of this incredible event, into the breach stepped another hero, the final one. The one who will likely never be forgotten in local hockey lore.

Mitchell Eldridge.

The shaggy-haired, gangly, exhausted, quintessential teenage high school athlete, placed his stick on the puck in front of a butterflied Hatfield and the sound that emanated from the rink when Eldridge propelled his limbs forward to send the puck home likely knocked a few Canal jetty boulders loose and into the freezing drink outside.

It could be described no other way.

Victory: 4-3.

— Sean Walsh is the sports editor for www.capecod.com. His email is [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @coachwalshccbm

Click here to view and order prints of photos from the 33rd Annual Cape Cod Canal Cup

Bourne High’s Mitchell Eldridge celebrates as fellow co-captain Austin Braley hoists the hardware last night. The pair provided all the offense the Canalmen would need for victory.
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