The Carman Beavers are South Eastern Manitoba Hockey League champions for the second time in three years.

Brock Vanderveen scored with 5:37 left in the third period and Laurent Benjamin added a power play goal with 3:11 remaining as the Beavers defeated the Altona Maroons 2-0 Tuesday night at Sunflower Gardens and swept the best-of-seven final in four straight.

Carman's Steve Christie and Jayme Janzen of the Maroons were stellar in a fast-paced, thoroughly entertaining game four which seemed destined for overtime.

Until Vanderveen potted his 8th of the post-season.

"I was coming down the wing on a partial two-on-one and tried throwing it on net," said the champagne soaked Beavers forward. "Sure enough went shortside and we held on from there."

"We knew this was going to be a tough game," said Carman coach Brett Dow. "We knew they were going to throw everything they had at us but we knew if we stayed the course and played our game, eventually we would get a bounce that would go our way and that's what happened with Brock's goal. Couldn't have asked for a better ending."

 

Brock Vanderveen's winning goal in game four

 

Janzen faced 42 shots in game four while Christie made 34 saves for his second shutout of the series.

"I think over the course of the playoffs we learned how to play better in the neutral zone which slows other teams top players down," said the Beavers netminder. "We got a really good "D" corps when everybody is there. It allows me to see the puck and when I did have a rebound they were able to clear it."

The Maroons, who played with so much intensity and drive when they upset the defending champion Notre Dawks Hawks in seven games in the semifinals, managed just five goals in four games against a Carman team that was relentless in the final.

After seven emotional games with the Hawks, was Altona's gas tank starting to run dry?

"That was a long and hard series and they are two completely different teams that play different ways," said Maroons captain Craig Neufeld. "We brought everything we could to Notre Dame and we thought we brought everything we could here against Carman. They capitalized on a lot of their chances and we just couldn't seem to find a way to get it past Christie in this series."

Beavers captain Aaron Lewadniuk, who had 12 goals and 15 assists in 13 games, was named the playoff MVP.

"It feels unbelievable," said Lewadniuk when asked how it felt to win another SEMHL championship. "The guys worked hard all series. The Maroons played real hard tonight. We just wanted to stick to our game plan, keep it simple and work hard. It took the whole 60 tonight."



Carman will represent the South Eastern Manitoba Hockey League at Hockey Manitoba's Provincial Senior A championship.

The Beavers, who won their 10th SEMHL title, will meet either the Killarney Shamrocks or Gladstone Lakers in their round robin opener March 31st at Bell MTS Iceplex in Winnipeg.

The best-of-five Tiger Hills Hockey League final between the Shamrocks and Lakers is tied at one.