St. Mary’s Tradition Continues: Another March to OFSAA
Larry Moko
It's another March to OFSAA for the boys' hockey team from St. Mary Catholic Secondary School.
When the calendar turns to March every year, St. Mary Crusader players and staff start planning for provincial high school A/AA hockey competition.
And Wednesday, they earned a berth to OFSAA 2025 in Sudbury with a 5-2 victory over Burlington's Aldershot Aces at J. L. Grightmire Arena.
"I think this is our seventh time going to OFSAA since 2012," Crusaders veteran coach Jason Kokoski said. "Every time we go the teams we play are good and the games are really hard.
"Sudbury is a long drive, but not as far as when we went to Fort Frances."
The Crusaders usually face only AAA size schools in their Hamilton-Wentworth Catholic league. This season, St. Mary ended up with a record of 2-5-1 before dropping a 4-3 quarter-final playoff decision in overtime against the Bishop Tonnos Titans.
St. Mary was then idle for 22 days prior to its Golden Horseshoe Athletic Conference final against Aldershot. In comparison, the Aces took part in five playoff games in Halton during that same period.
"I thought we played well considering it was such a big layoff since we were together last," Kokoski said. "The lines we had today pretty much played together all season long, so we were able to come in and pick up the chemistry."
St. Mary skated to a 2-0 lead before the Aces replied with two goals within a span of one minute midway through the second period.
Trent Harrington had two goals for the winners, including an empty-netter with two seconds left on the clock.
Defenceman Wyatt Albert also scored twice for the Crusaders and Caden Okis added a single.
Captain Jay Juby and John Jeffries accounted for the Aldershot goals.
"Our goalie (Grayson Archer) played awesome," the Crusaders coach said. "He made some really good saves through traffic and when the puck was kind of scrambling in front."
Albert notched the winning goal on a screened shot from the point one minute into the third period. That was followed, midway through the period, by a save by Archer on a breakaway.
Okis then restored St. Mary's two-goal cushion when he took a 2-on-1 pass and ripped a high shot in off the post.
Kokoski said he saw Aldershot play a game during a December tournament in Niagara Falls.
"So we knew it would be a close game."
Captain Niko Batagelj of the Crusaders said the Aces were faster than expected and their physical checking put a lot of pressure on St. Mary's defencemen.
"We dominated for most of the game," Batagelj said. "We were doing everything right. That's why we came out with the win."
Said Aldershot coach Zach Hogan: "I'm proud of the guys. We came out and played a really hard game over three periods. We were really looking forward to this opportunity.
"Hats off to St. Mary. They played well and capitalized on their chances."
Other players on the St. Mary roster included, Bennet Archer, Jackson Beaulieu, Lennox Borer, Haydon Bradley, Carter Buchanan, Landyn Chudzik, Zack Foster, Glen Jozef, Cam Grant, Lucas Hall, Jake Kester, Ben Lamb, Derek Markotic, Aiden McGee, Luke Muldoon and Fox Taylor.
The OFSAA tournament for A/AA is March 18-20.
The Bishop Ryan Celtics, who have already qualified for AAA boys' hockey championship in Windsor, dropped a 6-0 decision Wednesday in Milton to the Bishop Reding Royals.
Photos by R.F. (Bob) Butrym, RFB Sport Photography
More photos on HWCDSB Athletics Facebook page
