The Orléans Star

(Left to right) Devyn, Travis and Terry McFadden hold up the Bradley Cup, 74 years after three other McFaddens won the trophy in 1948. FRED SHERWIN PHOTO

Team Navan is this year’s Bradley Cup Charity Hockey Tournament champions thanks to a high-powered offence that scored 12 goals in two playoff games including a six-goal effort against Team Vars in the final in a game that wasn’t as close as the 6-0 score might indicate.

Navan was all over Vars from the open-ing faceoff, peppering the Vars goalie with shot after shot until Terry McFadden pounced on a rebound and scored with a high shot into the top corner just over 90 seconds into the opening period.

With Vars forced playing on their back foot, Navan continued to pour it on, eventually scoring five minutes later on a shot from Sam Dutrisac after the Vars goalie made several brilliant saves to keep the game close.Meanwhile, Vars wasn’t able to generate their first shot until the game was six minutes old.

Navan would go up 3-0 halfway through the first period on a penalty shot by Ben Bakker which was awarded after Vars committed an on ice infraction. Tournament rules allow for the opposing team to take a penalty shot whenever the other team is penalized.

Refusing to sit on a three-goal lead, Navan continued to press the action in the first period, resulting in a fourth goal scored by Connor Lawlor on a quick snap shot low to the glove side that caught the inside of the near post.

Luc Prieur scored three minutes into the second stanza to extend Navan’s lead to 5-0, and then former OHL defenceman Tim Billingsley capped the scoring with six minutes still left in game.

Among the players on the Navan team were brothers Shane and Ben Bakker; father and son duo Kurt and Daniel Kritsch; and three members of the McFadden family who were playing in the Bradley Cup, 74 years after their father and grandfather played for the same Cup with his two brothers in 1948.

Basil, Bill and Ken McFadden formed their own line on the 1948 team which beat Cumberland Village 8-1 in a two-game, total goal, home-and-home series.

Basil McFadden, who was the last surviving member of the trio, passed away last July at the age of 90. His son Terry played in this year’s tournament with his nephews Travis and Devyn McFadden.

“Isn’t that something?” said tournament organizer Frank Boyer during a break in the action. “Talk about history repeating itself.”

Boyer has been one of lead organizers of the tournament since its inception in 2016. The event was canceled at the last minute in 2019, just hours after Ontario premier Doug Ford declared a state of emergency over COVID-19. The tournament had to be canceled again last year for the same reason.

The easing of restrictions earlier this month paved the way for this year’s tourna-ment to go ahead.

Five teams entered the event from Vars, Sarsfield, Cumberland, Navan and Orléans.

After a round robin in which each team played three games, the defending champ-ions from Cumberland found themselves the odd men out.

In the semi-finals, Vars beat Orléans 5-1 and Navan downed Sarsfield 6-1.

While admission to the tournament was free, the combination of corporate and local business partners along with team entrance fees helped raise over $3,000 for the Navan Lions Club, which will use the money to support their various charities.

Since the tournament began in 2016, more than $40,000 has been raised.

This year’s presenting sponsors were Steve Barban from Gentry Capital, M.L. Bradley Ltd., Cumberland Ward councillor Catherine Kitts, J.T. Bradley’s Country Convenience Store and the law firm of Grandmaitre Virgo Evans.

As in past years, fan attendance was off the charts with friends and family packing the stands to support their favourite team.

“This is what local hockey is all about,” says Boyer, who thinks junior and professional teams could learn a thing or two about their little charity tournament. “This is where it’s at. Local kids playing on local teams with people who know them coming out to watch them play.”

Boyer and Shane Bakker are already making plans for next year’s tournament when they hope to return to at least six teams..