scored from Wayne Folster Jr . at 10:20 and then Skylar Tait-Reaume , a former KJHL scoring champion , made it 5-2 from Ballard and Sam Mackay Jr . at 15:23 to send it to the second intermission with Killarney in front 5-2 . However , the Shamrocks came out aggressively in the third . Friesen , a former Neepawa Natives leftwinger who led Killarney in scoring during the regular season , tallied at 1:26 to make it 6-2 as Cuthbert and Bryce Lamb , a former Prince Albert Raiders star , drew the assists . Then , at 2:08 , Howatt scored his second of the game , unassisted , to make it 7-2 and just 50 seconds later , Cuthbert scored from Friesen and Howatt to make it 8-2 . At 7:05 , Andrew Lochhead went in alone on Albert and made it 9-2 as Gow drew the only assist and at 15:02 Cody Einarson tallied the final goal of the game for Norway House as Ballard drew another assist .
Killarney outshot Norway House 43-37 as the Shamrocks ’ Brian Archibald , a former Kings , Blizzard and Blues goalie , outdueled Albert between the pipes . Gow had a goal and four assists for Killarney while Howatt had two goals and two assists and Cuthbert had a goal and two assists . Ballard had a goal and two assists to lead the North Stars . “ We were healthy , we ’ ve been here before and we knew what to expect ,” said Skeoch . “ They stepped their game up when they had to .” For captain Jamie Schultz , this was the third time he ’ d played on a Killarney Shamrocks championship team . Originally a Winnipegger , he ’ s now a schoolteacher on a Hutterite Colony just outside Killarney , and there is nothing better than winning a championship with a group of friends . “ This was a blast ,” said Schultz , 30 , who played three seasons with MMJHL ’ s Pembina Valley Twisters . “ It ’ s been three years that we ’ ve had the core group of this team . We picked up a couple of guys last year and a couple more this year and we just added to it . It ’ s just a
really good group of guys and it ’ s fun when you can go to the rink and know you ’ re pretty much going to win every game . “ I ’ ve never played on a team like this . It ’ s a real special team . I ’ ve been in Killarney for six years . My first year in Killarney , we won and then we had a few lean years and now we ’ ve won two in a row . This is as good a team as I ’ ve ever played on . I played three years in the MM with Pembina Valley and a couple of years in the States ( with Dakota College at Bottineau ), but those teams weren ’ t anything like this team . Nothing against those teams , we had good teams in Bottineau , but this team is really special .” For Cuthbert , a former member of the Moose Jaw Warriors who lives in Brandon and plays for the Shamrocks with old friends Gow and Chapman , this might not be the best team he ’ s ever played on , but it ’ s probably the most fun . “ I joined the team last year , but the year before , I played in Dauphin ( with the MJHL ’ s Kings ) with Chapman , ( Colton ) Magwood and ( Jesse ) Bernard ,” he said . “ We went to the RBC Cup in Dauphin and didn ’ t get the job done so we wanted to come to Senior together and see if we could get it done here and we ’ ve won it two years in a row now . This is a pretty great group of guys .” For a veteran like Gow , who went on to play in the Allan Cup with Southeast Prairie Thunder nothing beats winning . “ Just wanted to win the final game of the year ,” said Gow with a wide smile . “ Winning that last game hasn ’ t happened often in my career . It ’ s pretty cool to be with these guys and win the last game of the year . I haven ’ t done it since Bantam . I only win a Killarney jersey . “ My parents still live in Killarney . All our guys were local guys so it ’ s pretty awesome . We all love each other and we play great together . I go home on the weekends to play with this team and it ’ s great . We have three guys on this team who aren ’ t from Killarney and the all grew up playing hockey with us anyway . This is an awesome group .” n
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