MOOSE JAW -- Prairie Hockey Academy were once again the hosts with the most during the Lorne Molleken Elite U17 Prep Prairie Classic in Caronport this past weekend.
And this time, they got the job done in the most dramatic of fashions.
The Cougars put together an undefeated run all the way to the championship game on Sunday afternoon, where they’d score late to tie the game against Edmonton-based Â鶹ÊÓƵ Side Athletic Club before winning it all with 0.4 seconds remaining in the second overtime.
The 5-4 victory gave PHA their third straight Molleken Classic title and was naturally as exciting a win as there can be.
“We're just so proud of the boys, and really, they just kept believing all weekend,” said Cougars head coach Rob Holoien. “To start 2025, we just started talking about the legacy that they're going to leave here when they move on next year and really about the PHA brand. They just played for each other all weekend and it really had nothing to do with us coaches, our leadership group was in there and kept these guys going all the time. They're turning into a team, and we're really excited for the second half as coaches.”
Things couldn’t have gone much better for PHA in the lead-up to the final. They opened the tournament with a 6-0 win over Pillot Mound on Thursday at the Barkman Arena before taking a 5-3 win over the Calgary Royals and downing the Leduc Oil Kings 3-1 on Friday to finish 3-0 in their round robin pool.
The semifinal against Edmonton’s Canadian Athletic Club was more of the same, as Kade Kahovec had a hat trick and Hunter Toth picked up their other marker in a 4-1 win. Karter Hilbig stopped 32 shots to send PHA to the title game.
There, Carter Muench opened scoring for SSAC, but Jamie Kirwan and Hogan Hickman replied before the period was out for a 2-1 lead.
Seamus Dillon made it 3-1 early in the second, but David Kuzik got one back for Edmonton before the period was out, and Muench and Charlie Leclaire scored in the third to make it 4-3 Bulldogs with 2:59 to play.
Game over, right?
Not so fast.
“They're a great hockey team but our guys got off to a good lead,” Holoien said. “We were ready to play even if we were a little nervous in the first, but once we settled in, the guys just kept going. They stuck to the game plan and they really believed the whole time, even when we were down by one with a couple minutes to go.”
Dane Chalupa was the first PHA hero, tying the game with 1:26 to play when a shot from the point by Ethan Unger went off him in front and found the back of the net.
The first overtime solved nothing, and it looked like the second wouldn’t either, until Bryden Wagner got possession of the puck in the dying seconds.
“Just a great individual effort where he picks up a loose puck, and gets going up ice with good speed, it's a one-on-one, and he shoots it low blocker far side, and wins it for us,” Holoien said.
The goal came with 0.4 seconds remaining and, as one might expect, touched off a raucous celebration.
Drake Mooney turned aside 46 shots to earn the win in goal, while PHA had 43 shots on SSAC’s Ashley Ammann.
Now, the attention turns to the remainder of the Canadian Sport School Hockey League season. PHA holds a 10-14-0-1 record and are in ninth place in the U17 Prep team standings and listed as 13th by MyHockeyRankings. That means they’ll have some work to do to get into the top tier of CSSHL Western Championships, but Holoien is confident the tournament win will be a jumping off point.
“We're in a playoff race here and it's going to be a lot of fun,” he said. “I think we've seen what we're going to see down the stretch and this team just keeps believing, so I imagine we're going to get there right on time… We're just so proud of them, they're setting themselves up for success in the second half.”
The PHA U17 Cougars didn’t have as much luck in their Molleken Classic draw, going 0-3 in the round robin before falling 4-1 to Pilot Mound in their consolation game.
Be sure to keep an eye on for updates on all their teams as the CSSHL season continues.
