The Clarenville Caribous, following a bittersweet end to last year’s all-Newfoundland senior hockey championship, wrapped up their fourth Herder Memorial Trophy title Saturday night at Torbay’s Jack Byrne Arena, beating the St. John’s Caps 6-1.
It capped a four-game sweep for the Caribous, who made some history along the way as Clarenville coach Rebecca Russell, the former NCAA hockey player, became the first female coach to win the Herder.
The Caribous, back-to-back champions of the Central West Senior Hockey League, took a 3-0 stranglehold on the series Friday night with a 4-1 decision, following 4-3 and 5-2 victories last weekend on home ice at the Eastlink Events Centre.
The Caribous were in last year’s much-talked about Herder, a series won by the C.B.N. CeeBee Stars in controversial fashion.
With just over four minutes remaining in the third period of the final game of a best-of-five final in Clarenville, the CeeBees’ Kenny King scored the go-ahead goal, which would later prove to be the winning tally.
Caribous goalie Jason Churchill, however, vehemently argued the puck slid under the side of the net, a claim later supported by NTV video footage.
Chad Earle led the way for Clarenville with two goals, with singles from Keith Delaney, Kevin Reid, Mason Reid and Justin Pender. Pender received the Cliff Gorman Memorial Award as the series MVP.
Veteran Terry Ryan had the loan goal for the Caps, who won the East Coast Senior Hockey League this year.
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HERDER WINNERS
The Herder Memorial Trophy is emblematic of provincial senior hockey supremacy. Here are the Herder winners over the past years:
1935 - Corner Brook Royals
1936 - St. John’s, St. Bon’s
1937 - St. John’s, St. Bon’s
1938 - St. John’s, St. Bon’s
1939 - St. John’s, St. Bon’s
1940 - St. John’s, St. Bon’s
1941 - Bell Island
1942 - No competition
1943 - No competition
1944 - Bell Island
1945 - St. John’s, St. Bon’s
1946 - St. John’s, St. Bon’s
1947 - St. John’s, St. Bon’s
1948 - St. John’s, St. Bon’s
1949 - St. John’s, St. Bon’s
1950 - Buchans Miners
1951 - Buchans Miners
1952 - Buchans Miners
1953 - Grand Falls
1954 - Buchans Miners
1955 - Grand Falls Andcos
1956 - Grand Falls Andcos
1957 - Grand Falls Andcos
1958 - Grand Falls Andcos
1959 - Grand Falls Andcos
1960 - Conception Bay CeeBees
1961 - Conception Bay CeeBees
1962 - Corner Brook Royals
1963 - Buchans Miners
1964 - Corner Brook Royals
1965 - Conception Bay CeeBees
1966 - Corner Brook Royals
1967 - Conception Bay CeeBees
1968 - Corner Brook Royals
1969 - Gander Flyers
1970 - St. John’s Capitals
1971 - Grand Falls Cataracts
1972 - Grand Falls Cataracts
1973 - St. John’s Capitals
1974 - St. John’s Capitals
1975 - St. John’s Capitals
1976 - St. John’s Capitals
1977 - Corner Brook Royals
1978 - St. John’s Blue Caps
1979 - St. John’s Mike’s Shamrocks
1980 - Gander Flyers
1981 - Grand Falls Cataracts
1982 - Grand Falls Cataracts
1983 - Stephenville Jets
1984 - Stephenville Jets
1985 - Corner Brook Royals
1986 - Corner Brook Royals (Allan Cup champions)
1987 - St. John’s Capitals
1988 - Corner Brook Royals
1989 - Port aux Basques Mariners (Hardy Trophy champions)
1990 - St. John’s Capitals
1991 - No competition
1992 - Badger Bombers
1993 - Flatrock Flyers
1994 - La Scie Jets
1995 - Southern Shore Breakers
1996 - Southern Shore Breakers
1997 - Flatrock Flyers
1998 - Flatrock Flyers
1999 - Southern Shore Breakers
2000 - Southern Shore Breakers
2001 - Deer Lake Red Wings
2002 - Corner Brook Royals
2003 - Flatrock Flyers
2004 - Southern Shore Breakers
2005 - Deer Lake Red Wings
2006 - C.B.N. CeeBee Stars
2007 - C.B.N. CeeBee Stars
2008 - C.B.N. CeeBee Stars
2009 - Clarenville Caribous
2010 - Clarenville Caribous
(Allan Cup champions in 2011)
2011 - Grand Falls-Windsor Cataracts
2012 - Clarenville Caribous
2013 - C.B.N. CeeBee Stars
2014 - Grand Falls-Windsor Cataracts
2015 - Grand Falls-Windsor Cataracts
2016 - Grand Falls-Windsor Cataracts
2017 - C.B.N. CeeBee Stars
2018 – Clarenville Caribous