Whitehorse Daily Star

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Photo by Marcel Vander Wier

LEAGUE CHAMPS – From left, Klondyke Dental Molars players Mike Jim, Gord Campbell, James Billy, Tim Turner- Davis and Mike Blower pose with the league trophy after winning the old-timer hockey championship.

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Photo by Marcel Vander Wier

SHUT OUT – Jets forward Gerry Rivest, left, handles the puck while Molars’ Mark Caswell closes in Monday.

Molars shut out Jets 2-0 to win old-timer league

Sean McLeish and Gord Campbell provided the scoring,

By Marcel Vander Wier on April 8, 2015

Sean McLeish and Gord Campbell provided the scoring, and goalie James Billy did the rest as the Klondyke Dental Molars won the old-timer hockey league championship Monday night.

The Whitehorse league’s playoffs concluded at the Canada Games Centre with the Molars shutting out the Joe Sparling-less Air North Jets 2-0.

McLeish was the first to beat Jets goalie Shay Mortimer, who was filling in for Sparling between the pipes. The goal at 13:58 of the first put the Molars up 1-0.

Then with 3:30 left in the first, Campbell slipped a shot past Mortimer to pad the lead to 2-0.

Meanwhile, at the other end of the ice, Billy was brilliant en route to a shutout performance – his first of the season.

“I said I retired two years ago,” said the long-time goalie, who makes the two-hour trek from Carmacks to Whitehorse for each of his team’s games.

“I drive in every two days. It’s always fun to play in this league. You play with a lot of different guys and gain friendships throughout the years.”

The 2015 title marks the third straight championship game won by Billy.

Last year, he helped the Firth Rangers claim the league cup after backstopping Yukon Inn to the title in 2012.

“With every team, it’s good to win. Mostly, this win is for the guys in the (dressing room) who won it for the first time,” Billy told the Star Monday.

“And now I’ve come full circle with KDM, because when I first started, I was on the KDM team and we won the league and playoffs, too.”

The game was a clash of the league’s second and third seeds, after Kilrich was eliminated from the playoffs early following a dominant regular season that saw them lose just one game.

Kilrich’s season record of 35-1-6 is widely regarded to be the best in league history. The league began in the 1980s.

Second seed Air North would have had to beat Klondyke Dental twice to win the trophy, as the playoffs employ a double-elimination format.

The final was a physical affair, with several bodychecks being dished out.

Yukon Premier Darrell Pasloski and Education Minister Doug Graham refereed the contest, assessing six minor penalties.

“They forechecked really well,” Jets captain Chad Cowan said of the Molars game plan. “They played good positionally and were making good first passes. We weren’t, as forwards, giving our defence any space or helping them out.”

The centre felt the Jets played a good first period, but just weren’t able to beat Billy. Then in the second frame, they “started to panic,” said Cowan.

“One of the teams that we played the best against is Kilrich,” he added. “We beat them once, tied them three times and we lost to them once.

“It was a great bunch of guys. We always had 12 or 13 guys out, so commitment was great.”

Klondyke Dental beat the defending champion Firth Rangers 7-2, Air North 4-2 and EDI 3-2 to reach the championship final.

The team received offensive contributions from a variety of players, but were led by Mike Jim and Tony Park, who had six playoff points apiece.

“What I noticed in the playoffs is that we started to talk a little bit more to each other,” said Billy. “We made sure everybody knew when we played and all that.”

Members of the Molars’ championship squad include: Dave Bakica, Russell Bamford, Billy, Mike Blower, Campbell, Mark Caswell, Dermot Flynn, Gregor Gabb, Jim Giczi, Rick Gingell, Jim, Mike Knutson, McLeish, Tony Park, Rick Seaman and Tim Turner-Davis.

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