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The Riverview Ravens are once again the Red Cup Showcase champions.

The host Ravens defended their tournament title with a 3-2 win over the Northumberland Nighthawks of Westville in front of a raucous crowd at the Cape Breton County Recreation Centre in Coxheath on Sunday.

Lucas Phillippo was the hero for the hometown Ravens, scoring all three goals for the hat trick in the first period.

John-Kay Martin had both goals for the Nighthawks, who will host the School Sport Nova Scotia provincial championship next month in Pictou County.

Riverview’s Kayden Mollons made 18 saves. Northumberland’s Briac Cameron stopped 23 of 26 shots.

Phillippo opened the scoring for Riverview at 13:23 of the first period before adding to the Ravens lead shortly after at 8:57 with his second goal of the game. He completed the hat trick at the 6:19 mark to give the Ravens a 3-0 lead.

Martin would cut the lead to two before the end of the first frame at 1:36 before pulling the Nighthawks to one at 13:51 of the second period, but that’s as close at they would come to tying the game.

The Nighthawks had a five-minute power play stretching between the second and third periods after Nick Lawrence with given a major penalty for interference late in the second frame.

More rough stuff ensued at the final horn with Northumberland’s Martin MacArthur and Riverview’s Ben MacDonald receiving fighting majors. MacDonald also picked up a physical harassment of an official penalty.

The win marks back-to-back Red Cup victories for Riverview under the Ravens moniker and an 11th overall title for the Coxheath high school since the tournament began in 1978.

The last time Riverview won back-to-back titles came from 2011 to 2013 when the team was successful in winning the tournament three consecutive years.

ROAD TO THE TITLE

Riverview secured its spot in the championship game with a 5-1 win over the Dalbrae Dragons of Mabou in the tournament semifinal on Saturday night.

Ayden Ball scored three times while Owen Buckley added a pair of goals for the Ravens.

Donald Gillis had the lone goal for the Dragons.

Riverview’s Baxter Lawrence made 12 saves. Dalbrae’s Hayden Gillies stopped 22 of 27 shots.

As for the Nighthawks, they beat the Memorial Marauders 5-1 in the semifinal, also on Saturday night.

MacArthur scored twice while Chace Campbell, Rory Cameron and Cole Miller added single markers for the Nighthawks.

Sam Gracie had the lone goal for the Marauders.

Northumberland’s Cameron made 16 saves. Memorial’s Levi Hull stopped 17 of 21 shots.

Riverview finished the tournament round-robin with a 2-0-1-0 record. The club beat Sydney Academy 7-1 and Northumberland 4-2. The club’s only loss came to the Dartmouth Spartans 3-2 in overtime.

Tournament award winners were not available at publication time.

Next up on the high school hockey schedule is the Highland region playoffs. Riverview will face Sydney Academy and Memorial will play Dalbrae. A schedule for the series was not released at publication.