STEINBACH, Man. — Avenging last year’s loss in the Allan Cup final wasn’t easy for the Bentley Generals, but that’s what made their victory that much sweeter.
Fifteen minutes into overtime, Carter Rigby was the dagger that exacted the revenge when he beat South East Prairie Thunder, defending Allan Cup champions, goalie Steve Christie and scored the game winner.
The Generals concluded their run at the Allan Cup in Manitoba with a 4-3 over the Thunder, taking the national men’s senior hockey championship.
“It’s unbelievable,” said Rigby. “Everyone wants to be the hero — you dream about it — so to get (the game-winning goal) in a game like this means the world to me.”
Rigby had two goals in the game, his only ones of the tournament. Ian Schultz had a goal and an assist while Kyle Bailey had two assists to lift the the Generals over the Thunder.
“We knew to win this tournament, you would probably have to go through South East, and after losing to them last year, you don’t get too many chances for a second chance,” said Generals head coach Ryan Tobler. “When you lose in the final, you think about it all summer and everything we went through this year led up until this point and this moment, so I’m really happy for the men.”
Generals goalie Thomas Heemskerk was pelted with 47 shots throughout the game, he stopped 44 of them.
This will be the last season the Generals call Bentley home. Citing an aging building and small crowds, the team will call Lacombe home for the 2016-17 Chinook Hockey League season. They played their league final games in Lacombe.