Another terrific season ended on Tuesday night in the Greater Ontario Junior Hockey League with the Listowel Cyclones hoisting the Sutherland Cup for the first time in franchise history. It truly was an incredible run for the Cyclones, but it didn't come without challenges and adversity.  You'll remember the Cyclones were pushed to the brink by the Waterloo Siskins in the 2nd round of the Midwestern Conference playoffs. In Game 7, Waterloo had a 3-2 lead with 12 minutes left in regulation, before the Cyclones stormed back with 2 goals to win 4-3 and punch a ticket into the Cherrey Cup final. Head Coach Jason Brooks and many of the players have said during interviews how tough a test Waterloo gave them and how they were 12 minutes away from the season being over.

The Cyclones had 9 final year players on their roster this season including co-captains Caleb Warren and Blake Nichol. They are two terrific young men who were beaming with pride on Tuesday night bringing the Sutherland Cup title to their hometown. Warren and Nichol are best friends, grew up together and now end their junior careers on top. It truly is a storybook finish. Back in December, Warren scored the final goal at the old Listowel Memorial Arena. It was an overtime winner in a 7-6 victory over the Brampton Bombers. It was fitting. It was perfect seeing Warren score that goal. On Tuesday night, who scored the final goal in the Cyclones first ever Sutherland Cup victory? Blake Nichol. A 200 foot shot from his own zone found the empty net in the final minute. Again, it was fitting. It was perfect seeing Nichol score that goal. Afterwards, he pointed over to his brother who was standing along the glass.

The team is obviously full of talent, but it was the Cyclones depth that stood out. On any given night anyone could be the hero. I won't soon forget Cullen Mercer's goal in Game 2 of the series. It was all started by Ben VanOoteghem in his own zone and finished off by Mercer who took a behind the back pass from Chayse Herrfort. That was the goal of the series. Tommy Hoogars wraparound, Jake Lee flying down the wing and scoring, Caleb Warren's breakaway goal in Game 1, all stand out as fond memories the players will carry with them for the rest of their lives. Mitch Deelstra scored key goals in the playoffs, Holdyn Lansink jumped into the glass a bunch of times after scoring important goals, Brady Anderson delivered, and lets not forget about goalie Max Wright who was named the GOJHL playoff MVP. A humble kid from Waterloo, who made big save after big save in key moments in the playoffs. During every interview, Wright always talked about his team first. He gave credit to the Cyclones defenceman for blocking shots and making his job "easy". A true class act very deserving of MVP honours.

The Cyclones defence had some workhorses. Max Coyle, Keaton Willis and Danny Skinner logged huge minutes each and every night. Coyle made the smart play, the simple play and he received some deserving recogntion on CKNX radio. Steve Sabourin and Scott Bridge on 2 occassions in the finals named Coyle the player of the game. The Cyclones gave up a total of 7 goals in 4 games in the Sutherland Cup championship series to the Corvairs, who were the highest scoring team in the GOJHL this season (309 regular season goals). Depth up front, solid on the backend and strong goaltending, that was the Cyclones story in 2017-2018. They had a perfect mix and everything finally fell into place for this franchise. 

For the town of Listowel, the memory of Tuesday's win won't fade anytime soon. I arrived at the rink at 5:30pm, 2 hours before puck drop and there was atleast 250-300 people in a line up outside to get in.  As of 6:30pm, people were scrambling to find seats. Passion. It's that simple. This townloves their  team. A room was set up for overflow so fans who didn't have tickets could watch on TV and catch the game. And the guy with the drum, a new addition for Game 4, kept the crowd loud throughout the entire game.

Back in December, Jason Brooks said during an interview after the final game at the Listowel Memorial Arena, "you couldn't have written a better script" having hometown boy Caleb Warren score that overtime goal. He summed it up perfectly. On Tuesday when Brooks was asked what he would say to the town of Listowel right now, he answered "Thank you, simple as that". A perfect answer to an almost perfect season for the Cyclones. It was a season the town, the players, the coaches and everyone in the organization will never forget. Congrats Cycs Nation, well done.