Whitehorse Daily Star

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Photo by Marcel Vander Wier

DOWN TO THE WIRE – Nacho forward Justin Saunders, left, battles for a ball with the Ridge Pub’s Charles Tung as Ridge Pub captain Terry Joss looks on during the broomball championship final Saturday. Nacho won the game 3-1.

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Photo by Marcel Vander Wier

THIRD-PLACE GAME – Ridge Pub forward Patrice Brunet, centre, stickhandles around a Dental Donkeys player during the broomball semifinal Saturday morning. The Ridge won 3-1.

Nacho downs Ridge Pub to win broomball final

The Ridge Pub’s Cinderella run in the broomball playoffs came to a bitter end Saturday, thanks in part to some second period penalty trouble.

By Marcel Vander Wier on March 26, 2015

The Ridge Pub’s Cinderella run in the broomball playoffs came to a bitter end Saturday, thanks in part to some second period penalty trouble.

Nacho Nyak Dun DC lowered the boom on an extended five-on-three powerplay, scoring once during, and then another quickly after, to go up 2-0 midway through the championship final.

An eventual 3-1 win earned Nacho the Kopper King Cup, a year after they dropped the final to the Spectrum Bears.

Following a back-and-forth first period, the second opened with Ridge Pub power forwards Charles Tung (tripping) and Patrice Brunet (high stick) taking a seat beside each other in the box to serve three-minute penalties.

Nacho applied relentless pressure on the powerplay, with Justin Saunders ringing a ball off the post.

Despite the best efforts of penalty-killing trio Vanessa Brault, Julie Pruden and Terry Joss, Nacho forward Chris Schneider was eventually able to send a ball trickling past goalie Sandra Beitz to give his team a 1-0 lead.

Moments later, with Brunet just back on the ice, Charlie McLeod snapped a second goal past Beitz from in close to put Nacho up 2-0.

With seven minutes left in the third, Brault threw her team a lifeline by deflecting a Brunet shot past Nacho goalie Tim MacIntosh to put the Ridge back within one.

But with just over two minutes to play, McLeod put it away with his second goal of the game.

MacIntosh then sealed the win with a spectacular split save on Brunet’s last-gasp rush.

“It means a lot,” McLeod said of the championship. “A lot of the guys really care about broomball. The league is getting really good, so it was nice to see a couple of lucky goals go in for me.”

With temperatures up at 4 C Saturday, the ice was very slippery, making for a slower, cautiously-played game.

Captain Chris Saunders said this year’s Nacho squad was the largest team he’s ever played on.

“We had four lines of guys and two lines of girls,” he said. “Justin (Saunders, his son) came back onto the team because he missed playing with the old crew. We passed the ball a lot and had very few goals against. We just had a good morale and chemistry.”

Female players Naomi Smith and Amie Cofer also put up some big offensive numbers for Nacho this season, Saunders said.

Meanwhile, the Ridge was missing several top players late in the playoffs, including goalies Ryan Hannah and Margo Millette, top scorer Creed Swan, as well as Aaron Nicholson and Andre Guindon.

“It would have been a different game,” said Brault of her missing teammates. “But this is the best the Ridge has ever done. We’re number two and I couldn’t be more happy.”

Nacho finished second overall in the regular season and beat the 202 Saloon Shooters, the Dental Donkeys and the Ridge Pub, twice, on the way to the league crown.

Meanwhile, the first loss to Nacho meant the fourth-place Ridge had the harder road to the final, taking down Capital Towing, the season-best Bears and the Dental Donkeys, only to drop the final to Nacho.

“We started off unable to score any goals,” Ridge captain Joss said of his team’s season. “We tied a lot. By the end of the year, we started blanking teams, but we weren’t expecting to be here (in the final).”

Eleven teams competed for the Yukon broomball title this season, said league president Milford Allain.

The parity was better than ever with membership going up another 10 per cent, Allain said.

“Every game was a battle. It was nice to see the competitiveness go up a notch.”

An awards ceremony followed Saturday’s action.

Bears forward and league top scorer Chris Nash (27G, 21A) was named male MVP, while Nacho’s Smith (11G, 2A) took home the female title after leading all women in scoring.

Top defenders were Ridge Pub’s Joss and P&M Recycling’s Sheena Laluk, while Yukon Brewing’s Aeden Greer was voted the league’s most sportsmanlike player.

Bears goalie Blayne Epp (10 shutouts, 0.75 GAA in 16 GP) was the league’s top netminder, and the 202 duo of Nick Estrada and Nikki Belanger earned rookie of the year honours.

Chris Bookless and John Tom Tom received lifetime achievement awards, sponsored by Yukon Brewing.

Comments (3)

Up 9 Down 17

Ridge Rage Nan on Mar 28, 2015 at 3:50 pm

So Nacho only won 3 - 1 against a team with only half its players and no goalie?? Well done, I guess ...

Up 12 Down 16

Andison on Mar 27, 2015 at 5:43 pm

I disagree. From what I saw nacho had about 15 players and the ridge had 7, plus no goalie, they just threw a girl in net.
If anything it speaks to the skill of ridge not nacho.

Up 24 Down 19

Nachobear on Mar 26, 2015 at 5:40 pm

Nachonwon fair and square. They are hands down a better team.

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