THUNDER BAY, Ont. – The Toronto Young Nationals have won their second TELUS Cup, defeating the Cantonniers de Magog 2-1 in double overtime on Sunday night to win gold at Canada’s National Midget Championship. 

Joseph Martino (Maple, Ont.) scored the game-winning goal 1:31 into the second extra period, beating Magog goaltender Olivier Adam (Drummondville, Que.) to give Toronto its second national title in five years.

“We had a good forecheck, Josh Currie got [the puck] and gave it to Elias Cohen. Cohen made a great pass to me and I just buried it,” said Martino. “I can’t even describe the feeling [of seeing the puck go in], it’s just surreal.”

Justin Robidas (Sherbrooke, Que.) opened the scoring for the Cantonniers with less than two minutes remaining in the first period before Thomas Harbour (Oakville, Ont.) evened the score just over six minutes into the third.

“The boys definitely showed character. The message that we sent was that good teams find ways to win, and that’s all we were saying,” said Aaron Darmanin, co-head coach of the Young Nationals. “Now that we’ve won a couple times, and this is the fourth time we have been here in six years, we can say that this is no fluke.”

James Gray (Toronto, Ont.) made 49 saves in the win and earned Player of the Game honours for the Young Nationals, while Adam turned aside 30 shots for Magog.                                                     

Tisdale Trojans defeat Calgary Buffaloes 3-2 to earn bronze

Earlier in the day, Tisdale rebounded from 4-2 loss to Magog in the semifinals to win the bronze medal, holding off a last-second effort and defeating the Calgary Buffaloes 3-2.

“There are a lot of moments where you have to stand out as a goalie and help out your team. You have to be on your game to keep your team in it and I love that feeling,” said Tisdale goaltender Tanner Martin (St. Brieux, Sask.). “Our goal coming in was to win a medal. It’s big for our community, and to bring a medal home to all the fans that supported us is great.”

Jayden Wiens (Carrot River, Sask.) scored twice to lead the offence for the Trojans, including the game-winning goal midway through the second period. Davis Chorney (Nipawin, Sask.) also scored for Tisdale, while Dylan James (Calgary, Alta.) and Carter King (Calgary, Alta.) replied for the Buffaloes.

Martin picked up the win with a 34-save performance for Tisdale, while Jonah Chambers (Calgary, Alta.) recorded 24 stops in the loss.

For more information on the 2019 TELUS Cup, please visit HockeyCanada.ca/TELUSCup or follow through social media on Facebook and Twitter.