St. John's Caps take home 2024 Herder Memorial Trophy
The St. John's Caps won the Herder Memorial Trophy Saturday evening. (St. John's Senior Caps/Facebook)
The St. John's Caps won the 2024 Herder Memorial Trophy Saturday evening, the first time the team has won since 1987.
The Caps beat the Deer Lake Red Wings in all four games of the championship, securing the trophy with a 5-0 win Saturday in Game 4. The St. John's team won the previous game in overtime with a score of 7-6.
"It's been a long road for The Caps," said Gary Gale, the chair of the senior and adult recreation council with HockeyNL.
Energy levels were high at the Hodder Arena on Friday and Saturday, said Gale, with about 1,400 people watching in the stands and an additional 600 people tuning in on the online livestream.
The final two games of the championship were held at the Hodder Memorial Arena in Deer Lake, with the first two at the C.B.S. Arena.
The Deer Lake Red Wings also lost the championship to the Southern Shore Breakers in the finals last year. The team took home the 89-year-old trophy in 2001 and 2005.
The Caps made the finals in 2016 and 2018, but this is the first year the team has won in decades.
East coast advantage
The Red Wings beat the Grand Falls-Windsor Cataracts to win the Central West Senior Hockey League, while the Caps won the Avalon East Senior Hockey League against the Clarenville Caribous.
Gale says the Avalon East league has a "significant advantage" over the league in central west. All teams in the east have a junior affiliate team and compete at a higher level than those in central west.
"In the west, it's always a challenge to get the skill level to build a roster that you would have to compete with the top senior A team out east."
"The Caps were the much stronger team, so it's something we're going to have to take a close look at for next year."
The league has been in "rebuilding mode" over the last couple of years due to the COVID-19 pandemic, says Gale. Getting the league back on its feet is a work in progress, he says, but one he's confident will see success in the future.
"If we continue with the model that we have right now, I think the Herder next year, and in the years to come, will be a much more competitive series."
The Herder Memorial Trophy was first presented in 1935 by Ralph Herder of the Evening Telegram in honour of his family, who founded the newspaper in 1879.
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