By Birch Hills Blackhawks

Birch Hills Blackhawks: 2023-24 Twin Rivers Hockey League Champions

Apr 4, 2024 | 10:05 AM

If anyone was betting on who would be playing in the Twin Rivers Hockey League final series, you would have won big money if you chose Birch Hills and Rosthern.

Both teams were down 2-0 in their respective semi-final rounds and not many people were thinking that the improbable would happen.

In the East Division semi-final series, Birch Hills dropped their first two games against Allan by scores of 3 to 1 and 6 to 2. The Blackhawks won the next 3 games 5 to 1 at home, 5 to 3 in Allan and 4 to 2 in game 5 in Birch Hills to win the series.

The Wheat Kings were also trailing the Chiefs two games to zero in the West Division semi-final series, losing their first two games 9 to 3 and 4 to 2.

Rosthern won the next 3 games against Willow Cree by scores of 7 to 4 in Willow Cree, 6 to 1 at home and 3 to 2 in Willow Cree.

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Game One in the final series was played on March 9th in Rosthern. The Blackhawks were leading 4 to 3 with 5 minutes left in the game and the Wheat Kings rallied back to tie the game at 4:50 and to win the game 5 to 4 with 6 seconds remaining.

Game Two was played on March 10th in Birch Hills; the Blackhawks defeated the Wheat Kings 7 to 2.

Game Three was played in Rosthern on March 15th. The Blackhawks had a 3 to 0 lead until 5 minutes into the 2nd period, when the momentum swung to the Wheat Kings and they never looked back – scoring 7 unanswered goals to take game three by a 7 to 3 score.

Birch Hills hosted Game Four on March 16th. It was a back-and-forth game all night with the teams exchanging the lead during the game. Birch Hills tied the game at three with 33 seconds remaining in the 2nd period, making for an exciting 3rd period. With less than five minutes remaining in the game, the Blackhawks scored to take the lead and they held off Rosthern’s attempts to even up the game.

These games set the stage for Game five in the series…what a great way to end the season!

Rosthern took the early lead in the game, 2 to 0. The Blackhawks battled back to go ahead 4 to 2, heading into the 3rd period. The Wheat Kings scored two quick goals in the first 5 minutes of the 3rd period to tie the game at four and both teams remained scoreless for the remainder of regulation time.

And now we get overtime too! Both teams were kept off the scoresheet for the 10-minute overtime period, with Blackhawks goalie, Kody Kushniruk making some great saves, including one at the 3-second mark. With just under 3 minutes gone in the 2nd overtime period, Tyler Tilford fed a long mid-ice pass to Tyson Novakoski who had managed to get behind Rosthern’s defenders and skated in alone to put one past the Wheat Kings’ goalie to win the game, the series and the league championship.

Although only a few players have been mentioned in this write-up, this was a team win and could not have happened without everyone’s contributions throughout the season.

Congratulations to Reed Gunville, who was presented with the Twin Rivers Hockey League Most Valuable Player – Playoffs award following the game.

Reed had 11 goals and 9 assists in the playoff run, and although he was kept off the scoresheet in the final game, he was very effective on the ice in game five and had 6 goals and 3 assists in the previous 4 games against Rosthern.