Merger students help lead Canton to boys, girls hockey titles
Feb. 19—Merger students from Heuvelton, Lisbon and OFA played key roles as Canton Central claimed championships in Girls and Boys Hockey.
In Girls hockey defender Mia Jenault of OFA and forwards in Ava Murphy of Lisbon and Saige Blevins of Heuvelton made consistent contributions to a sweep of NAC and Section 10 titles.
The Lady Bears saw their season ended on Friday in a 2-0 loss to Kenmore-Grand Island in the Semi-Finals of the New York State Tournament.
In Boys Hockey Canton won a showdown with Massena 4-3 last Wednesday to win the NAC Divison I Championship. Aided by contributions by three Heuvelton students in forwards Drew Blevins and Reid Doyle and goalie Landen Denner, Canton finished at 8-3-0 for 16 points and the Raiders finished one-point back at 7-3-1.
BOYS HOCKEY
Canton 4, Massena 3: At the Massena Arena, the Golden Bears scored three goals over the final 5:04 of the second period to take a 4-2 lead into the third where they held on for the win after Bryce Flynn had cut the deficit to 4-3 just 3:03 in off an assist from Drew Smutz.
Carter King opened the scoring for Massena just 2:39 into the game assisted by Parker O'Neil but Drew Blevins pulled Canton even with the first of his three straight goals.
JP Bouchard struck just 2:09 into the second period to put the Raiders back on top with Flynn drawing the lone assist. Blevins tied the game with his second at the 11:56 mark of the period then completed his hattrick less than three minutes later before Jonney McLear made it 4-2 with 2:06 remaining assisted by Josh Ayrassian.
Daniel Creurer stood tall turning aside 45 shots for Canton and finished the season with seven wins and a 1.75 goals against average. while Jake Linstad logged 19 saves for the Raiders.
Canton drew a bye for the first round which will now saw Massena (7-3-1) play host to Potsdam on Wednesday. The championship game is slated for Monday, February 26, at Clarkson's Cheel Arena starting at 5 p.m.
Blevins finished as Canton's top scorer with 11 goals with 11 assists and Garrit Palmer tallied eight goals with a team-high 20 assists. Rounding out the team leaders were: Owen Logan (8 goals, 4 assists), Reid Doyle (5 goals, 5 assists) and Bob O'Shea (3 goals, 6 assists).
Denner tended four victories on the season with a 3.04 goals against average.
GIRLS STATES
For the second time in New Years the Canton Girls had an outstanding ended in the state tournament on Friday night. The Bears dropped a 2-0 decision to Kenmore Grand Island in state semi-finals despite outshooting their opponents 18-14.
Isabelle Jayme delivered one goal and one assist for KGI and Samantha Horne stopped 18 shots in a shutout.
Myrah Bullock made 12 saves for Canton.
