It was a banner innaugural season for the Innisfail Eagles in the North Central Senior AA Hockey League.
After joining the league from the Senior AAA ranks at the start of the 2024-25 campaign, the Eagles were crowned champions over the weekend.
Innisfail won the Vanberg Cup best-of-seven series four games to one, capping off the title run with a dominant 7-2 victory over the defending champion Lacombe Senior AA Generals on Saturday.
"When you can go in and deliver a victory over the defending champs in their own barn, it’s pretty sweet," said Eagles head coach and General Manager Ryan Dodd.
"They (Lacombe) are a great team and a top-shelf organization. They played us tough the whole way through, but this group of guys is something special. You can feel it in the dressing room as well as on the ice – I’m proud of this team and what we’ve accomplished this year.”
Saturday at the Gary Moe Sportsplex, the Eagles jumped out to an early 2–0 lead with goals from NCHL playoff scoring leader Chase Thudium and Tyler Berkholtz. Mike Marianchuk made it 3-1 Eagles after a Thomas Beretta power play goal and Beretta added another power play marker to cut the deficit to one goal after 20 minutes.
Nick Bell made it 4-2 with 38 seconds left in the second with a shot from the point.
In the third, Thudium added his second of the night and Marianchuk also added his second with an empty-netter to make it 6-2. Thudium had a four point night, and Eagles forward Chance Longjohn also had three assists.
Eagles goalie Chance Griffith was named series MVP, he stopped 28 shots in the series clinching contest to earn the win. Generals goalie Mackenzie Engel had 17 saves in the loss.
Griffith had a strong playoff, starting in 12 of the Eagles' 14 games, going 9-3. He ended up with a 2.47 GAA to go along with a save percentage of .927.
The Eagles, who finished the regular season in third place, won the championship in their first year in the NCHL after joining the league with the Stony Plain Eagles last spring as the Chinook Hockey League came to an end.
The Hinton Heat (1995-96), Drayton Valley Wildcats (1997-98), Devon Barons (2012-13), Daysland North Stars (2015-16) and Camrose Crush (2021-22) are the only other teams to win the Vanberg Cup in their inaugural season in the North Central Hockey League.
Innisfail's road to the championship started in Devon where the Barons, who were last season's Vanberg Cup finalist. Innisfail won the series two games to one, with both of their wins coming in overtime.
Innisfail came back to win games 4 and 5 to move on to the semi finals versus Wetaskiwin. The Longhorns took the first game 5-1 and the Eagles came back to win 3 straight (including 2 in overtime) to take the series in 4 games.
Lacombe had won the past two Vanberg Cup titles.
The Eagles will now have a 10-day break as they prepare to head to Lethbridge for the Senior "AA" Provincial Championships, taking place April 3–6. They’ll compete in a six-team round-robin tournament against other provincial division winners and the host team, the Lethbridge Lightning.
