EMERSON NAMED CCAA MVP DESPITE GOLD MEDAL LOSS
The 1985 season was one to remember for All-Canadian Dave Emerson and the Humber Hawks hockey team. After finishing the regular season with a 21-3 record, the Hawks swept through the provincial finals with a perfect 7-0 record.
As a defenceman, Emerson finished fourth in the league in scoring with 55 points in 24 games.
Looking for the program’s first national title, the Hawks went to British Columbia and fell to the NAIT Ooks, capturing the silver medal. Despite the loss, Emerson became the first player to be named championship MVP from a team that did not win the national championship.
Named to the OCAA Men’s Hockey All-Millennium team, Emerson was inducted into the OCAA Hall of Fame in 2013.
Major penalty ruins Hawks' hopes
by John Barta
The Canadian college hockey championship between Humber and Northern Alberta Institute of Technology (NAIT) came down to the last 10 minutes, and down to one bad call according to Humber Athletic Director Peter Maybury.
With 10:37 remaining and the game tied at 6-6, a NAIT player was apparently cut in the mouth by a high stick.
The referee did not see the infraction, but a linesman told him he saw Hawk goaltender Scott Cooper hit the player with a high stick.
The referee then issued a five-minute major penalty to Cooper, giving NAIT the upper hand.
NAIT 8, HAWKS 6
Alberta scored the eventual winning goal a minute into the penalty en route to an 8-6 victory, but Humber remained a man short because of the major infraction.
The Hawks couldn't rebound from the devastating call, and after the game, many of them were obviously upset at the controversial decision.
"I think it was an extremely poor call," Maybury said. "When it's 6-6 in the national championship game, with eight minutes left, you do not make a call like that.”
"The call was not made by the referee; it was made by the linesman. He wasn't even there," he added.
Winger Craig Goodwin echoed Maybury's comments on the play. "It wasn't the call to make in the championship game with a tie score with ten minutes left... and by a linesman to boot," Goodwin said.
Bad call
"He took the whole game away from us with those two calls (the other being a tripping penalty to Dave Emerson after the Cooper call)."
"The penalty decided the game. It's a shame that it had to be decided that way." said winger Steve Turner."
Winger Chris Panos saw the play from the stands and said he couldn't believe the call.
"It had to be the worst call with ten minutes left and the championship game tied. It was ridiculous," Panos said.
NAIT added another marker with over a minute left to put the contest out of reach.
Humber jumped out early in the first period on powerplay goals from Emerson and Doug McEwen.
NAIT got one back midway through the first frame. Four minutes later, Gregg Payne restored Hawks two-goal lead (assisted by Vince Molinaro). In the second period, NAIT narrowed the margin, but it was short lived as Robb Heyworth added a powerplay goal to make the score 4-2.
Alberta exploded with three straight goals in five-and-a-half minutes to take a 5-4 lead. But before the period ended Emerson tallied a powerplay goal to tie the score. Both teams exchanged goals in the third period (Ken Jenson scoring for Hawks) before Cooper's match penalty.
After the powerplay goal on Cooper's penalty, Emerson took a tripping penalty which further hindered Humber's comeback attempt.
The final NAIT goal, with 1:15 left, was the final nail in the Hawk coffin.
Humber began the eight-team tournament by outshooting Saskatchewan 62-25 en route to a 10-1 thrashing.
