Marlboro, MA - The Islanders Hockey Club (IHC) defeated the Jr Bruins on the road 5-1 to clinch the regular season championship, known as the “Founders Cup” for the third straight season.  The IHC has six regular season games remaining including hosting the South Shore Kings on Saturday before traveling to the Boston Bandits on Sunday.

“The Founders Cup represents hard work, dedication, a commitment to excellence where you have to show up every day all season long and do your job,” commented GM/Head Coach Sean Tremblay.  “This team has been one of the deepest group of men I have coached and I have great admiration for the respect they have for our league and their drive to be the best each and every day.  They genuinely care more about each other than themselves and have pushed each other day in and day out on and off the ice.  I am extremely proud of  our ownership, this team, and my entire staff for making this a truly incredible season.  We just might be in the midst of a historic season, as I don’t know if this type of success will be repeated for a long time. “

Thursday’s contest with the Bruins started out with a scoreless first period.  However, with just over three minutes in to the second Yale bound Justin Pearson would fire a snap shot into the top of the net past Janiv Perets for a 1-0 lead.  Colgate recruit Mark Gallant and George Sennott would get assists on the goal after a relentless shift by all three players.  It would take until the final minute of the period when Mark Cheremeta would pull out the highlight reel once again.  Receiving a pass from Lucas Michaud at the blue line he would fly by one defender before curling the puck back on his forehand, then pull it past the defender to his backhand and in one motion fire it far side past Perets for a goal you just don’t see very often.

The third period would see the IHC pull further ahead when Cheremeta would sauce a pass to a streaking Nick Parody on a 2x1 play.  Parody would deke to his backhand and roof it over Perets for a 3-goal lead just 1:42 in to the final frame.  Two-minutes later off a quick transition play from JJ Layton and Justin Pearson, it would be Mark Gallant pounding home a rebound off a George Sennot shot for a commanding 4-0 lead.  The Bruins would spoil what could have been two shutouts in a row when Robbie Griffin snapped one past Justin Ferguson with 2:38 left in the game.  Merrimack recruit Jonathan Young would score a shorthanded, empty-net goal to make it a 5-1 final and push the team to 41-3 record and claim the Founders Cup once again.  Dartmouth bound Justin Ferguson earned his 22nd win of the season stopping 26 of 27, while Perets took the loss making 33 saves.

The Isles have put together two 16-game win streaks this season and push their three-year regular season total to 117-15-1.  An astonishing 11 players have over 10 goals, including 5 over 15 and 2 over 24 or more.  The team has scored a remarkable 224 goals while allowing only 90.  The goaltending tandem of Justin Ferguson and Louis Felix St-Jean are on top of the league in GAA and save %, the PP is above 26% and the PK at 89.7%.  The next quest this season for the IHC is to defend their 2017 Dineen Cup Title, a drive that will start in twenty days on Friday, March 16, 2018 in Lawler Arena at Merrimack College.  They have secured home ice for the entire duration of the Dineen Cup Playoffs.