The Thistles are Creighton Cup champions! After ten seasons of futility and heartbreak, the league's most snakebitten team has finally won a title. In true Thistles fashion, they did it the hard way -- the really hard way.
Playing on the road in Game 1, the Thistles held a 2-0 lead late in the third period, but Bearcats captain Harry Trihey put his team on his back and scored twice to tie the game. In overtime, Scotty Davidson beat Hugh Lehman to give the Bearcats an improbable series-opening victory. The Thistles came home for Game 2 determined to get back on track. They got off to a great start when Jack Darragh scored on the team's very first shot. The teams traded goals throughout the game, with the Thistles managing to stay a goal ahead. In the waning moments of the third period, the Bearcats tied it yet again. This time, it was superstar Joe Malone tallying just seconds before the horn sounded. The stunned Thistles headed to overtime facing the possibility that they could be down by two games in this best-of-five series despite playing with the lead for about 90% of the time across both games. After two overtime periods, the game remained tied. Lehman and Bearcats netminder Hap Holmes made incredible saves, but at some point, one puck was bound to sneak through. Darragh ended the contest with his second goal of the game in triple overtime. The final score was 4-3 for the visitors. It was the longest game in league history, and Lehman set a record with 49 saves. Back in Bearcats territory for Game 3, the Thistles continued to roll by scoring again on their first shot. The Cats, however, notched the next three goals and skated away with an easy 3-1 win and a 2-1 series lead. Facing elimination, the Thistles had a must-win game at home, and they gutted out a 4-2 victory to force a winner-take-all Game 5, hosted by the Bearcats.
Game 5 would prove to be an all-time classic. Late in the first period, the Thistles were hit with a double whammy when star defenseman Hod Stuart went down with a serious injury and the Cats' Dickie Boon scored after a desperate flurry of chances in front of Lehman. Stuart was ruled out for the remainder of the game, so the Thistles had to continue without one of their best players. Fortunately for them, their star forward stepped up his game; Alf Smith scored in the second period and racked up another one early in the the third to give his team a 2-1 edge. As the clock ticked away, I wondered if the Cats could manage to stage yet another amazing comeback to force overtime. Well, they sure did! The peerless Malone scored late in the frame, just as he had done back in Game 2, and the contest went to overtime. The first OT period was a quiet affair with only a couple of quality chances. In the second overtime, however, Smith broke in on Holmes with a chance to end the game and deliver a championship for his long-suffering team. (By this point, both Matthew and Nathaniel had come over to the table to witness these final dice rolls.) Smith knifed a shot past past Holmes's outstretched glove, and the game was over. It was a hat trick for Smith, but more importantly, it was a Creighton Cup for the league's unluckiest team. The curse has been broken!
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