The final day of 2018 is here and there were many reasons to celebrate.  West Central Online is looking back at some of the biggest stories from 2018 in a year in review: 
The 2018 Allan Cup saw one of Canada's most prestigious hockey tournaments come to Rosetown.  The event brought in players and fans alike and will be a hard event to top in 2019!

The 2018 Allan Cup officially wrapped up on Saturday night with an exciting Gold Medal Game played between the Stoney Creek Generals and Lacombe Generals. Ultimately, Stoney Creek managed to come on top with a 7-4 victory to win the Allan Cup.

The tournament was a huge success from a business perspective in Rosetown, especially over the weekend. Local restaurants, hotels and other sanctions thrived throughout the entire week and helped customers from all different parts in the nation.

Games in the tournament that didn't feature the hometown Rosetown Red Wings were some of the best attended games in the Allan Cup dating back 5-10 years. This shows that Rosetown is passionate about hockey, and can host future events.

Derek LeBlanc, player with the Rosetown Red Wings, said he had a chance to catch some of the other games in the tournament and speak with travellers about the accommodations in town. "I've talked to a few friends from other teams that brought families and all of them have had positive comments about the lifestyle here in Rosetown. The support we have here in the community is unreal, and they definitely felt that in their week long stay." LeBlanc said proudly.

Even with both Saskatchewan teams being knocked out in the quarter-finals part of the draw, that never stopped the die-hard fans from showing up to the rest of the games and events throughout the weekend. Being a good sport is something that many citizens can hold themselves accountable for around these parts.

  

Round Robin Games

GAME 1

South East Prairie Thunder 2

Bethune Bulldogs               2

GAME 2

Rosetown Redwings            3

Stoney Creek                     3

GAME  3

South East Prairie Thunder 5

Elsipogtog Hawks              2

GAME 4

Lacombe Generals        1

Rosetown Redwings      1

GAME 5

Bethune Bulldogs   1

Elsipogtog Hawks  1

GAME 6

Lacombe Generals 5

Stoney Creek        3

Playoff Games

GAME 7

Bethune Bulldogs 2

Stoney Creek      3

GAME 8

Rosetown Redwings 4

Elsipogtog Hawks    6

Semi Finals

GAME 9

South East Prairie Thunder 2

Stoney Creek                    5

GAME 10

Elsipogtog Hawks   1

Lacombe Generals  4

Allan Cup Final

GAME 11

Stoney Creek         7

Lacombe Generals 4

 

 

 

The 2018 Allan Cup Gold Medal Game was decided after Friday's semi-final matches.

The Stoney Creek Generals defeated the South East Prairie Thunder in the first semi-final of the day with a 5-2 victory. Stoney Creek has now managed to win two playoff games in a row with wins against the Bethune Bulldogs in the quarter-finals and now last night against South East.

In the second semi-final, the Lacombe Generals dominated most of the hockey game against the Elsipogtog Hawks with a 4-1 victory to punch their ticket back in the Allan Cup Final. Lacombe out-shot Elsipogtog 54-17 in the game and were able to spend plenty of minutes up on the man advantage.

Sean Robinson, Head Coach of the Lacombe Generals, talked about getting back into the Gold Medal Game and how his club played in the semi-final.

"We got lots of shots tonight. The goaltender on the opposition was playing real well, but we continued to just find scoring chances and managed to find the back of the net a few times in this game." Robinson said.

"The guys bought in tonight and played the right way. I was very confident they would get the job done tonight just with the level of focus they showed at the earlier parts of the day prior to puck drop."

Stoney Creek and Lacombe have already met each other once in the round robin portion of the draw where Lacombe came out on top in a 5-3 win to clinch first place in their pool. Stoney Creek will look to change that result in tonight's game.