Packed Arena Watches Manotick Mariners Win Inaugural Game

The 50/50 prize was not claimed. The winning ticket was 02360227.

It was the kind of Saturday night that Manotick has not seen in more than a generation.

The Manotick Mike O’Neil Arena was sold right out, and the community celebrated the return of Senior A hockey with a tailgate party and live band.

Once the puck dropped, the Manotick Mariners, the new entry in the Eastern Ontario Super Hockey League, did the rest.

The Mariners, a relocated franchise from Cornwall that has undergone a facelift on and off the ice, defeated the South Grenville Rangers 7-4 in their first of 10 home games in the 2024-25 EOSHL regular season.

Fittingly, Manotick native Liam Dennison, who turned pro late last season as he joined the Utah Grizzlies after his NCAA hockey career at Merrimack College ended, scored the first goal in Mariners history, drawing a loud ovation from the packed home crowd.

Dennison has never been a goal scorer in his hockey career. A classic stay-at-home defender who can move the puck, Dennison scored only four goals in five college seasons.

Ryley Egan and Samuel Tremblay drew assists.

“It couldn’t have worked out better,” Mariners owner Tal Baroudi said. “Liam is a hometown kid from Manotick, and to have him score the first goal was really great.”

In the second period, Ryan Lough, another Manotick native, scored the second goal in Mariners history. Lough played junior hockey in the powerful Notre Dame Hounds program in Saskatchewan that produced Rod Brind’Amour, Wendel Clark, Curtis Joeph, Vincent Lecavalier, Brad Richards and countless other NHL players over the years. He played college hockey at St. Lawrence and then played professionally in Australia and in the ECHL with the Manchester Monarchs and Orlando Solar Bears before joining the EOSHL.

Alexander Grenier scored one for the Rangers to make the score 2-1, but then the Mariners scored three goals in a span of just over two minutes to make the score 5-1.

Brett McKenzie, who played in the AHL and ECHL over the last four seasons, scored first. Then Brett Gustavsen, a former Ottawa 67 and Carleton Raven scored. The third goal in the stretch came off the stick of Sean Murphy, an Ottawa native and EOSHL veteran who played in the CJHL and also played internationally for the Jamaican national team.

Zachary Lefebvre got one back for the Rangers with two seconds left in the period, and then Brandon Gilmour scored twice to pull South Grenville to within a goal at 5-4.

With 7:24 left to play, Gustavsen set up Ryan Lough for his second of the game, and then Gustavsen iced the win with an empty net goal from Dennison and Jonathan Desbiens to make the final 7-4.

Gustavsen, with two goals and two assists, was the game’s first star while Dennison was the second star. Gilmour was the third star.

Manotick goalie Berk Berkeliev made 40 saves for the win.

Great atmosphere

The crowd was north of 600 people, but it seemed like 6,000 with everyone jammed into the arena.

“The important thing is that everyone had a great time,” Baroudi said. “The atmosphere at the tailgate party outside before the game was great, and it carried over into the game. The fact that it was an exciting game only made it better.”

Baroudi said a lot of people were not sure what to expect Saturday night. But there first taste of Senior A hockey was a good one.

“There was a lot of wait and see from a lot of people,” Baroudi said. “But when they saw the calibre of hockey these guys play, everyone realized how good these guys are. People were looking up the different players online and seeing that we had players who had been in the Toronto Maple Leafs organization, or the Vancouver Canucks organization. We have players who have played professionally and a lot of guys who played college hockey.”

Some of the wait and see Baroudi talked about came from the business community.

“We had some businesses approach us after the game to talk about becoming sponsors,” he said. “There were a lot of people who wanted to see what this is and if it’s for real. Well it’s for real.”

The only major hiccup the new team faced is that their uniforms have not yet arrived.

“Our jerseys and socks were stuck in Mexico,” Baroudi said. “We had to wear our practice jerseys. Once we have our uniforms the product on the ice will look better for the fans.”

The next home game for the Mariners is Sat., Oct. 5, when they host the Pontiac Comets. Face-off is at 7:30 p.m. with the tailgate party in the pavilion at Centennial park behind the arena before the game. For ticket information, visit manotickmariners.com.

Featured Image: Manotick goalie Berk Berkeliev gets some help from his D on a shot from Rangers forward Broydon Stufko.