When Christian Jackson scored in overtime, there was no doubting what it meant to the Glace Bay Panthers and their fans.

Immediately following the dramatic goal, the Panthers players, to a man, raced to the area in front of where their most passionate supporters had camped out throughout the four-day 2017 Panther Classic high school hockey tournament.

And there they celebrated the team’s 2-1 sudden-death victory over the Riverview Redmen in the annual competition’s championship game.

“This is awesome and it’s great that we won and just having everyone here, it’s just great for the school,” said a grinning Jackson, who like his teammates sported red-dyed hair as a sign of unity and school allegiance.

As the hero of the hour, Jackson had every right to smile. And, so did his teammates.

With an enthusiastic crowd of about 300 looking on, Jackson opened the scoring late in the first period when the puck found its way on to his stick as he stood unchecked in front of the Riverview cage. He then slammed it into the back of the net past a sprawling Owen MacPhee before leaping into the air in celebration.

“That was just emotion, pure emotion,” said Jackson, who raised his stick high in triumph following his first-period goal.

The importance of the goal grew as the game progressed and neither side was able to turn on the red light. Both Riverview’s MacPhee Glace Bay’s Cody Smith came up big time after time with huge saves to keep the game tight.

Then, with just 43 seconds left in regulation and MacPhee on the bench in favour of an extra attacker, the Redmen’s Jacob Denny scored to knot the contest and silence the pro-Panthers crowd at the Canada Games Complex.

Then came overtime.

It didn’t take long before Jackson’s wraparound secured the victory and sent Glace Bay players and fans alike into a frenzied celebration.

For the Panthers, it was a storybook ending, especially after losing 3-0 to Riverview in the final of this year’s Memorial-hosted Mae Kibyuk Memorial Green and Gold tournament. For the Redmen, it was disappointing. But players from both teams can be proud to have played in one of the most exciting Cape Breton high school hockey games in recent years.

The two local schools now look forward to the Riverview-hosted Red Cup in February.

This year’s Panther Classic also featured the Memorial Marauders, Sackville Kingfishers, Hants East Tigers, Auburn Eagles and the Truro-based Cobequid Education Centre Cougars.

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