Junior C hockey bragging rights once again belong to the Lakefield Chiefs who captured the Provincial Junior Hockey League’s Schmalz Cup on Tuesday night.
In front of a packed Lakefield-Smith Community Centre, the Chiefs earned a 4-0 victory over the Glanbrook Rangers in Game 5 to win the best-of-seven championship 4-1.
The title is the Chiefs’ fourth. They last won the championship in 2014.
Goalie Michael Christie stopped 26 shots to secure the shutout victory and his 20th win of the playoffs. The Chiefs defeated the North Kawartha Knights, Port Hope Panthers and the Stayner Siskins to reach the finals.
“At the end of this game I wanted to treat it like any other one,” said Christie. “I knew there was a lot at stake. Just treating it like any other one was the way to go for me. The boys were ready to go so it worked out well.”
Matt Carroll opened the scoring at 10:20 of the first period. The Chiefs’ specialty teams came through in the second period with a power-play goal by Jeff Hawthorne at 5:50 followed by a short-handed marker from Ethan McDougall at 9:24. Evan Marlowe rounded out the scoring at 8:13 of the third.