The Coquitlam Adanacs took game one of the 2025 Minto Cup Finals by a score of 7-5 on Thursday night. The Cup will be in the building tomorrow night as the Adanacs look to win back-to-back national championships.
Cody Malawsky was incredible once again, scoring 4 unanswered goals to lead the game with 5 points. Ty Banks was also incredible, holding Liam Matthews to just a goal and 2 assists. Trey Deere had a hat-trick to lead the Northmen.
It wasn’t a Picasso, but the opening game of the Minto Cup Final would be painted purple and gold as the Adanacs struck first blood in the best-of-three. As has been the theme of this tournament, the Coquitlam stars took over late and willed their team to victory.
Kennedy Scores and Not Much Else
The game began with a Parker Kennedy marker right off the jump and an early 1-0 Adanac lead. Even with that, the game was played without much juice or pace as the better part of two periods sort of felt like time through an hourglass. Lots of unforced turnovers dropped balls and poor passes led to plenty of disjointed play. Orangeville in particular was sitting on the ball, and not utilizing quick swings or any real off ball game. Coquitlam’s defence was able to lock in on Liam Matthews and whoever the ball carrier happened to be at the time. Shot selection and execution would also be a challenge for each team as we headed into the first intermission 2-1 Coquitlam.Â
Another Quiet 20
In the second period, the malaise continued. There were numerous shot clock violations and empty possessions for both teams. The defence and goaltenders were fine but aside from a few athletic saves from Kask there really wasn’t a whole lot being asked of them.
Then with the score 2-2 and less than fifteen seconds left in the period the turning point in the whole game took place. The Northmen were already on the man advantage when Coquitlam called a timeout and pulled the goalie to go five-on-five. Now there’s obvious inherent risk there as a turnover was possible but the Adanac coaching staff put faith in their players and it paid dividends. Off the timeout, they would isolate for Malawsky who would swim and then power his way to the night to score with just fractions of a second left on the clock. You could instantly feel the Northmen deflate as they walked into the locker room down 3-2 after forty minutes.Â
The third would bring a couple more Cody Malawsky highlight reel goals and a bunch more quiet possessions. About midway through the frame, Deere rang the bar a couple of times for Orangeville but Coquitlam was able to keep the Northmen at arm’s length. That is until the final 3:00 of the game when the Northmen went on a feverish run to close the gap to 6-5.
But that was as close as they would get. Following a Kask save on a Deere twister, the Adanacs called a timeout with 22 seconds on the clock and the ball in their own zone. The next sequence was executed to perfection as Ryan Colsey popped the ball over to Kask as he stepped out of his net and he proceeded to fire it full-floor to a waiting Malawsky. The powerful sniper evaded a check and then tossed it up to Chalmers who fired it into the empty net to seal the 7-5 win.Â
With the victory, the Adanacs now hold a 1-0 lead in the best-of-three Minto Cup final and will look to become the first team from Western Canada to win in the East since 1977. Will history be made Friday night in St. Catharines? Tune in live at 7:30 ET on TSN and NLL+
Three Stars
#1. Cody Malawsky (COQ)
What else can you say, the guy continues to get to the net and create his own shot. Once he’s in tight goalies don’t have an answer. Chalk up another four goals and five points and he was the game’s clear standout.Â
#2. Ty Banks (COQ)
Was all over Northmen front gate players all game making life difficult for them and had a couple chances in transition too. Banks is a throwback player and absolute force.
#3. Trey Deere (ORG)
He scored a bunch and hit a couple of posts… Deere produced despite the Northmen offence being stuck in neutral.Â
Unsung HeroÂ
Jack Kask
This is way more of an honourable mention as Kask’s athleticism was a difference maker. His ability to get out of net and make that full floor pass to set up the empty net goal was impressive.