The Coquitlam Adanacs defeated the St. Catharines Athletics 14-11 on Tuesday night to punch their ticket to the 2025 Minto Cup Finals. The victory sets up a rematch of the 2024 Minto Finals between the Adanacs and the Orangeville Northmen.
Cody Malawsky was spectacular again, finishing with 4 goals and 3 assists, including two clutch goals in the third period that were crucial in the eventual victory. Chuck Rawson and Zack Toll had 2 goals and 4 assists each to lead the Athletics, who put up an incredible fight in this one.
Close But No Cigar
The Athletics and Adanacs had never met before this tournament, but they renewed acquaintances for the second time in three days on Tuesday. It was a game of cat and mouse all night, as the Adanacs would continually go ahead by three before the Athletics would pull back within a single goal. This continued all night, as goals rained down inside the Meridian Centre. Â
The game would open up with Coquitlam scoring multiple goals from distance, many of which I know the Athletics would have liked to see turned away. St. Catharines was not getting pulled too far out defensively, so it had to be frustrating for the home side to find themselves down 5-2 after the opening period. As for the Adanacs, their depth scoring in the first meant that most of their offence was operating with confidence.
Athletics Battle Back
In the second Coquitlam started to get into the middle a little more and generate some better quality scoring chances. The big guns Cody Malawsky, Ryan Colsey, and Nathan Chalmers in particular would take a large amount of the onus to keep the pressure on the Athletics.
Meanwhile, struggling to get saves, St. Catharines had to play musical chairs with their netminders. The game would really open up midway through the second after Chalmers scored on a nice set-piece on the power play.
That would give the Adanacs an 8-4 lead and the game was hanging in the balance for the Athletics. But the hometown kids wouldn’t go quietly into the night as St.Catharines power play was red hot all game long and would narrow the game back down to an 8-6 scoreline. As they did all game long though the Adanacs would have an answer.
Adanacs Clamp Down in Third
The Adanacs were particularly buttoned up in defensive transition, not letting the Athletics score much in the unsettled game.
St. Catharines did play well offensively, generating 56 shots in the contest. Jack Kask made some key saves to keep his team in the lead. But despite a sizeable shot differential for the Athletics, the same nightmare continued for the home team. They would play long stretches of great defence just to allow a late goal.
Malawsky made a late push the keep the Athletics at arms reach for the entire third period, and the Adanacs cruised in the end to a three-goal victory.
We have a Minto Cup final rematch for the first time since 2014/2015 as the Orangeville Northmen await the Coquitlam Adanacs in the final. The Northmen are looking to avenge last year’s disappointing tournament where they were swept away by the Adanacs in Coquitlam. We will have lots more to say about that later this week, so stay tuned.
Three Stars
#1. Cody Malawsky
Simply willed his team to victory. Malawsky has an incredible ability to drive to the net both on and off-ball.
#2. Nathan Chalmers
I’ll say it again, Chalmers is one of the smartest players on the floor and an integral part of the Adanac power play. He is dangerous from the outside and inside of the floor.
#3. Chuck Rawson
Simply the best Athletic all tournament long. Every time this guy has the ball, he puts stress on the defence.
Unsung Hero
Jack Kask
The Athletics controlled most of the play, out-shooting the Adanacs by a hefty 56-36 count. Coquitlam had to kill a number of penalties as well, where the goaltender had to be sharp. Although not his best game, Kask came through yet again for Coquitlam.