In order to do something they have never done before, the Helena Bighorns had to do the same thing they did on Saturday.
Rally from a 1-0 deficit.
For the second straight day, in a single-elimination game the Bighorns conceded the first goal. And just like in the NA3HL semifinals in St. Peters, Missouri, Helena came through in the clutch.
Jack Lambert evened the score in the second period, before Patrick Crooks scored the game winner with just over four minutes left in the third period in a historic 2-1 victory for the Bighorns, who won their first Fraser Cup championship, finishing the season with a 58-2-1 record.
Nursing a 2-1 lead after Crooks goal, the Bighorns were just trying to kill the last few minutes on the clock.
With approximately 100 of fans in the St. Louis area looking on, as well as a strong contingent at Buffalo Wild Wings in Helena, the Bighorns killed one last penalty, leaving them short handed for the final minute and change as they salted away the Fraser Cup.
“Once Crooks got that goal, a lot of emotion ran through me personally,” Hanson said. “Then you look at the clock. We had four minutes left so we just tried to settle down the bench down. We knew we just had to take care of the puck and take care of business the rest of the way and (the players) did that.”
“I was just in the right place at the right time,” Crooks said of his go-ahead goal. “This group of guys just wanted it so bad.”
The ending was picture perfect for the Bighorns, but the start was far from it as Matthew Nuzzolilo struck first for the Northeast Generals, another NA3HL franchise seeking its first-ever Fraser Cup (dates back to 1988).
That 1-0 lead lasted to the end of the first period and midway through the second when Lambert evened things up to erase a deficit for the second straight day.
“We just tried to stay calm,” Hanson said when Helena fell behind. “Stay in the moment. Take it shift by shift — all the cliches really. You’re going to face adversity at times but we never wavered from our game and the guys just took it one shift at a time.”
Outside of allowing one goal, Jesse Schindel didn’t waiver either. With the Bighorns trailing 1-0, the Generals had a breakaway chance, as well as another that the Helena goalie stopped on his way to finishing with 19 saves.
Helena has won junior hockey national championships before, but the Bighorns haven’t won the Fraser Cup since their entry into the NA3HL.
“This is a pretty special moment,” Hanson said. “Especially for a guy like Dylan Cunningham or Garrett Bogan, it was three years ago when we started this journey. We won’t have the opportunity to have them on the bench again because they will be aging out. So to do it and to do it with those two guys, and everyone else for that matter, it’s extremely — it makes me a little emotional.”
“This is the greatest feeling ever,” Cunningham said via the NA3HL account on X. “It was three hard years and we finally got the victory.”
After reaching the Fraser Cup in 2022 and 2023, the third time was the charm for the Bighorns, who reveled in the idea of bringing home a trophy to the City of Helena.
“Our fans and the community is just incredible,” Hanson said. “We probably had 100 people here in St. Louis. (Bighorns fans) travel everywhere. They support us and it’s great. To do this for the fans, it means everything.”
(Article reposted from 406sports Montana Helena Bighorns win first-ever NA3HL Fraser Cup championship (406mtsports.com))