1980 CIHA Valor Cup tournament

 

Standings:

1. Barrie Admirals

2. Abbotsford Forest Kings

3. Verdun Knights

4. Nanaimo Sharks

Story:

Before the tournament began, all four teams came together at the Nanaimo Hall with the tournament's new rules and announcements. One of the new rules is that the 4th seed team can qualify for the semi-finals if they win 2 games of the now-expanded 6 games. If they cannot, they are eliminated, even if they win just one game, and the first-seed team moves on to the finals. Another announcement was that the Waterloo Maroons would host the 1981 CIHA Valor Cup tournament. The next one was the Valor Star tournament, an All-star event starting this June. Finally, CIHA President Joseph McGeorge announced that after both the Valor Cup and the Valor Star, he is no longer the CIHA President as he will hand that job over to Randy Howard, who is happy to take the role, "It is an honour to take a role to keep an eye on all three leagues, I'm excited to get to work with some of the best minds here at the CIHA."

Round-Robin

The Nanaimo Sharks started the tournament with a 2-1 win over the Barrie Admirals. The Sharks would win one more 4-2 over the Abbotsford Forest Kings. After that, they went on losing the last four games to finished 4th, luckily for them, they got 2 wins which they will play in the semi-finals. The Abbotsford Forest Kings and the Verdun Knights made history by ending their matchup in a 2-2 tie. They would face each other on the last day of the round-robin where Abbotsford beat Verdun in a 4-2 must-win game to go to the semi-finals as both finished with the same record of 2-3-1 with the Forest Kings win, they are placed 2nd while the Knights finished 3rd. The Barrie Admirals lost the tournament opener to the Nanaimo Sharks, but after that, they won the rest, including a 7-1 blowout win over the Sharks to finish 1st place with a 5-1 record.

Semi-Finals

Barrie Admirals vs. Nanaimo Sharks

In the first period, the Admirals were all over Shark's goalie Oscar Williams, 24 shots were made, and Oscar let in 4 goals as the first period ended. The Admirals were pretty much in a comfort zone. As the second period passed, the Sharks scored 2 goals, but the Admirals held on until the second period ended with a 4-2. The Admirals held their ground in the third period in a big way; as the clock turned to 1:34 left, Dylan Bouchard scored one more to complete a hat-trick, and with that, the game was over, and the Admirals are heading to the Valor Cup Championship beating the Sharks 5-2.

Abbotsford Forest Kings vs. Verdun Knights

Right off the gate, the Knights were firing shots from left to right until Josh Lucas finally scored a goal on Forest Kings goalie Frank Ford; the first period came to an end with the Knights on top 1-0. The Forest Kings came back as Ed Bram scored two goals, and the second period came to an end as the score was 2-1 Forest Kings. In the third, the Knights kept on shooting, but Frank Ford was holding his ground; as the clock was ticking away, the Knights pulled their goalie for an extra attacker to tie the game, but it didn't work as Luke White flipped the puck up in the air and slides right to the empty net, after that the third period came to an end and the Forest Kings wins it 3-1 and headed to the 1980 Valor Cup finals.

1980 Valor Cup Finals

Barrie Admirals vs. Abbotsford Forest Kings

Abbotsford had a hard time scoring against Barrie in the round-robin as the Admirals outscored the Forest Kings 9-2. In the first period, the Forest Kings may have finally found a way to outplay the Admirals as forward Jack Lazar, in his second season with the Forest Kings, scored a goal that the Admirals defence did not see it coming it raddle them good, as the first period came to an end with the score of 1-0. The second period was tight between the two teams; midway into the second, another Forest Kings player that the Admirals defence did not expect would be rookie forward Ryan Wedgewood, who sneaked into a breakaway and scored to make it 2-0. Everything fell apart for the Admirals as Ed Bram and Luke White scored two goals, and Barrie scored two goals. Still, it was too late as the horn sounded off to end the game with the score of 6-2, and the Abbotsford Forest Kings are the 1980 CIHA Valor Cup Champions. The Valor Cup MVP, Ed Bram, lifted the cup over his head in front of his teammates as the celebration began.

1979-80 AQHL Playoffs

Round 1

1st Verdun Knights vs. 8th Fredericton Vikings

The Knights top the league in a big way. While the Vikings squeeze themselves into this season's playoffs, the odds for the Vikings are not in their favour as the Knight swept them in the season series. In games one and two, the Knights pick up where they started in their season series with the Vikings as they took the first two games 6-2 and 4-1. In the last two games, the Knights finished off the Vikings by winning game three 6-2 and game four 7-2 to win the series 4 games to none.

2nd Cape Breton Warriors vs. 7th Trois-Rivieres Titans

Last season both battled for the Bronz Cup. This season it is all about who will move to the 2nd round. Luke Davis scored two goals in-game one to give the Warriors a 4-1 win over the Titans. In-game two, the Titans scored, but it was not enough as Shane Abrams made 4 assists to give Cape Breton a 5-3 win. Trois-Rivieres Titans found no answers for games three and four as the Cape Breton Warriors took them down (5-2, 7-3) to complete the sweep 4 games to 0 to move on to the 2nd round.  

3rd New Glasgow Highlanders vs. 6th Portland Clippers

The New Glasgow Highlanders made their 2nd playoff appearance and hopes of getting their first playoff series win. While the Portland Clippers made their return after missing last season's playoffs and hopes of a playoff series win since 1974. Games one and two were Highlanders (4-2, 6-1) as Jaune Poulette made 10 points (3G, 7A) to give the Highlanders two games to none lead. In Portland, the Clippers turned it around in the third period to force overtime, but the Highlanders Kyle Patrick scored the overtime winner 4-3 to take three games to none lead. In-game four, the Clippers did it again, but this time Frank Logan scored 2 straight goals to give the Clippers a 5-3 game four win to stay alive in this series. Back at New Glasgow, the Highlanders took game five into their hands as Jaune Poulette scored 2 goals, Kyle Patrick scored two goals as well; the biggest was Guy Dubois made 4 assists, the highest in his hockey career as New Glasgow won it 5-2 and move on to the 2nd round for the first time in team history with the series win 4 games to 1.

4th Sherbrooke Loups vs. 5th Moncton Bears

Fans came together in the jampack Patinoire de Sherbrooke as the Loups were ready for what they were hoping for a deep playoff run one last time before saying goodbye to the old barn, but the Bears had other ideas. The Bears played very well in game one as they held the Loups off with a 4-2 win. In-game two, the Loups got revenge as they blanked the Bears 5-0 to even the series one game apiece and headed over to Moncton. In-game three in Moncton, the Bears and the Loups battled all the way to overtime. In the end, Bears forward Andrew Jones, who has been quiet all season, made some noise in this series and scored the overtime winner as Moncton took the series lead with a game three win 3-2. Game four was like game three, it went all the way to overtime, and just like game three, Andrew Jones scored the O/T winner 4-3 to take the series lead three games to one. In Sherbrooke, the Loups are in a hole going into game five, but they are not going down on their turf as Christian Dupont leads the Loups with 5 points (2G, 3A) in a 6-3 win to force game six after the game fans stood up and gave the Loups a standing ovation as the Loups heads to Moncton for game six in hopes to force a game seven. Even thou the Loups got more goals than the Bears in this series, it was not enough as Moncton beat the Loups 3-1 game six win, thanks to Andrew Jones 3 goals to end the Loups season and move on to the 2nd round with the series win 4 games to 2.

Round 2

1st Verdun Knights vs. 5th Moncton Bears

The Knights are one series away from going to the finals, but the problem is both Josh Lucas and Max Victor both are on injured reserve, and Nick Leflamme got the flu, so they are short 3 stars which could be what the Bears need to get payback from being swept from last season. In-game one, the Bears had a big lead after the first period with a score of 4-0; when the second period started, the Knights fought back as rookie forward Tom Acomb made 2 goals and an assist to make it 4-3 as the second period came to an end, the third period started, and the Knights tied it thanks to defence Rob Grand-Pierre scored it, with 2:14 left in the third forward Larry Kuntz scored the game-winner as the Knights take game one 5-4. In-game number two, the Knight's top three stars are still on the IR list, but the Bears had a hard time scoring goals against rookie goalie Andre Perreault was a brick wall after letting in 4 goals from game one, as the first period turned to the second period, Tom Acomb scored a goal, followed by Rob Grand-Pierre one goal to make it 2-0, as the third period ticking down the Bears did everything, they can to do to score at least one goal but Andre Perreault held on as the third period came to an end, and the rookie goalie made history by becoming the youngest goalie to earn a playoff shutout at the age of 15, the final score 3-0. Andre Perreault may let in just 3 goals, but the Knights scored 6 goals as they take game three from Moncton 6-3. Before game four, news came out that Nick Leflamme was healthy and ready. Still, Knights head coach Nathen Giguere chose to sit him out to be prepared for the Bronz Cup championship. So Andre Perreault got the nod to start, the Bears did score 2 goals, but the Knights scored 4 goals thanks to the returning duo of Josh Lucas (2G, 1A) and Max Victor (1G, 3A) for a game four win 4-2 as the for the second year in a row the Verdun Knights swept the Moncton Bears 4 games to 0.

2nd Cape Breton Warriors vs. 3rd New Glasgow Highlanders

The battle of Nova Scotia could not be higher than ever as the winner of this series will go to the Bronz Cup championship. In-game one, the Warriors' Luke Davis made 5 points (2G, 3A) in a 6-2 win. But in game two, the Highlanders take it with a 4-1 win thanks to Jaune Poulette's 4 points (2G, 2A) game playing. In-game three, the Warriors came back on top 3-1 win over the Highlanders. In-game four, the Highlanders tied the series up with a 5-2 win over the Warriors. In Cape Breton, Shane Abrams made only 3 points (1G, 2A), but it was enough for the Warriors 3-2 win to take game five. Highlanders Kyle Patrick helped the team with his 4 points (2G, 2A) performance to even the series with a 4-2 game six win. It is all come down to game seven. It was a back and forth in both the first and the second periods. Going into the third period, the Warriors had the lead 4-2 until Guy Dubois shocked everyone by scoring two straight goals to tie it up; 3:21 left into the third, Jaune Poulette scored the tie-breaker goal to give the Highlanders a lead, as the clock ticking away the Warriors pulled their goalie for an extra attacker to try to tie the game, but it was too late as the clock hit zero, the Highlanders win game seven 5-4 to win the series 4 games to 3, and for the first time in the team's five years of existence the New Glasgow Highlanders are going to the Bronz Cup Championship.

1980 Bronz Cup Championship

1st Verdun Knights vs. 3rd New Glasgow Highlanders

The Verdun Knights are in the Bronz Cup finals for the second time in the team's history. For New Glasgow, it is their first shot for their first championship win. In Verdun, the Knight's top goalie Nick Leflamme is back between the pipes after missing out on the 2nd round from the flu. His performance was like in round one held off shots throughout the game. Larry Kuntz scored two goals in the third period as the Knights took game one with a 3-0 shutout win. In-game two, the Highlanders kept the Knights from scoring but not enough, as Max Victor scored a game-winner in a 1-0 win. In New Glasgow, both teams' defence held up as the third period ended and headed into overtime. Five minutes left in overtime, Larry Kuntz got a breakaway and scored the winner as the Knights won game three in overtime 1-0. Game number four was back and forth in the first period; as the second period started, the Knights Josh Lucas scored two goals within a minute; after that, they held the Highlanders off all the way to the end of the game, and the Verdun Knights celebrated with the 2-0 game four wins, the series 4 games to 0, and Josh Lucas rise the Bronz Cup as the 1980 AQHL Bronz Cup Champions. The Knights will rest for the next two days. After that, they are heading to Nanaimo, BC, for the 1980 Valor Cup tournament.