Courtesy of London Nationals Hockey Club
The London Nationals are fighting for another Bill Weir Trophy – for the third year in a row.
After defeating the Strathroy Rockets in a 4-0 series sweep and then the Chatham Maroons in Game 6 of the semi-final series, the Nationals have made it to the Western Conference Final.
The Nationals are facing the St.Thomas Stars, for the Wellington Road rivalry.
Head coach, Pat Powers, has now coached three London Nationals teams to the conference final, two of which have made it to the GOJHL Junior B Championship to compete for the Sutherland Cup.
Powers knows that the Stars will not go down without a fight through this series, because through the regular season, the stars took the season series 4-2.
“They definitely got our attention through the regular season, and so we had to prepare accordingly for this series.”
Carson Brookshaw is an assistant captain for the Nationals and also a former St. Thomas Star. He says meeting his former team in the conference final gives him a bit of an extra edge.
“I’ve had a lot of experience playing there and playing in that jersey, so I know what to expect and we know that they are going to play hard so we have to play just as hard.”
Just like his coach, Brookshaw knows that the stars will be competitive throughout the series.
“If you look back at the season, they almost had the best of us and every game was tight.”
The last time the Nationals won the Sutherland Cup was in 2013.
