Sydenham Progress to OFSAA Final
The Sydenham Golden Eagles Varsity hockey team is into the OFSAA semifinals. Sydenham beat Kincardine in the quarterfinals this afternoon, 5-1. Jack Craig, Drake Thomas, Brayden Thompson, Koltyn Garrah, and Carter Sager scored for the Golden Eagles. They will play the Central Hastings Centurians Thursdsay morning, at 11:30am, with the winning team progressing to the gold medal game later in the afternoon, while the loser will play for third place. The Golden Eagles remain undefeated in the tournament, after winning all their round robin games, including a 4-2 win over Korah C&VS on Wednesday morning.
The game is being live streamed - Semi-final @ 11:30 am - https://youtube.com/live/PedUlFOe-OI?feature=share
(The Sydenham Golden Eagles Varsity Team won both of their Pool B round robin games on Tuesday (March 24), in the first day at the A/AA championships in Belleville. They beat E.S. L'Essor 8-1 to open the tournament in the morning, and later in the afternoon, they shut out Frot Francis, 3-0.
Their final round robin game takes place Wednesday morning (March 25), against Korah C.&V.S. Korah brings a 1-1 record intro the game, having beaten L'Essor 4-2, after losing their opening game to Fort Francis, 3-2.A win by SHS will ensure top spot in the pool, setting up a Semi-final game against the second place team in Pool A, which will either be St. Therese CC or Kincardine District Senior School. Both of those teams are bringing 2-0 records to their final Pool A game against each other.)
This page will be updated after the Wednesday (March 25) games with details about the semifinal matchups.
At the Eastern Ontario Secondary School Athletic Association “AA” finals last week in Renfrew, the Sydenham Golden Eagles swept three games in a single day to win the EOSSA championship.
The performance erased some of the memories of bowing out of the tournament a year earlier with a 1-1 record, and also maintained the Golden Eagles unblemished record in the 2025-2026 season.
The first game of the day for Sydenham was against Mackenzie Community School. It was a close 2-1 game until late in the third period, when an empty net goal for Sydenham ended matters, 3-1 win for tehe Golden Eagles
Sydenham’s coach Shane Cook described the next game, against St. Michael’s Catholic Secondary School as one where “things got ugly fast”. He said that some suspect referee decisions did not help matters.
“We ended up wining an extremely physical and emotionally charged affair rather convincingly, 4-1,” is how he described the result.
This set up a final game, for the EOSSA title, between the Sydenham Golden Eagles and the home town team from Renfrew, St. Joseph’s Catholic Secondary School. St. Joseph’s were not only the defending EOSSA title holders, but the 2024-2025 OFSAA champions as well.
“We seemed to have everything under control going into third period,” said Cook, “or I should say Cole Rowat had everything under control, as he played like a man possessed scoring 2 goals and 1 assist in the first two periods and absolutely dominated the play every time he was on the ice - it was a sight to behold!”
In the third period with Sydenham leading 4-1, and 10 minutes left to play, St. Joseph’s took a four-minute penalty for contact with the head.
“We thought we were laughing. And the guys were literally giddy with excitement. They were buzzing! We could taste the EOSSAA championship and pending OFSSAA birth,” said Cook.
But there was another twist to the tale coming. Sydenham took a tripping penalty early in the 4-minute St. Joseph’s penalty kill, and then St. Joseph’s scored while the teams were playing four on four - 4-2 for SHS. Then, just after all the penalties had run out. St. Joseph’s scored again to make it a 4-3 nail biter with almost 6 minutes left, an eternity in a one goal game, as hockey fans know well.
“In that remaining time, they had chances, but like always our rock-solid goalie Zak Ottenhof was not letting anything past him and the guys in front of him did not give St. Joseph's much, so we were able to hang on and clinch the victory 4-3,” said a proud coach Cook.
Cook said later that the team he is optimistic about the coming OFSSAA provincial finals in Belleville on March 24-26, not only because they have already beaten last year’s champion team, but because of their clutch plan all season and at EOSSA,
“It is truly a one in a lifetime type experience for all of us and we are so excited about the opportunity to go there and compete for another championship this season.
