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By Denice Pepe
The Hanover Barons capped off a dominant season with a dramatic overtime victory to sweep the Essex 73’s and claim the 2025 Clarence Schmalz Cup as Provincial Junior Hockey League (PJHL) champions.
Aaron Dukeshire etched his name into Barons history, scoring the championship-winning goal in overtime to seal a 5–4 comeback win and finish off the best-of-seven series in a 4–0 sweep. The goal crowned Hanover as the all-Ontario champions for just the second time in franchise history.
Essex came out strong in Game 4, opening the scoring early and building a commanding 4–1 lead by the end of the second period. Gabriel Piccolo struck first for the 73’s just over four minutes into the game. Moments later, Kyle Maloney tied it for Hanover, but Essex took control, outshooting the Barons 18–7 in the second period and netting three unanswered goals.
By this point, the game was far from over.
Hanover native and team captain Ryan Colquhoun sparked the third-period comeback, scoring at 4:34. That goal ignited the Barons’ offence, as Sam Barrett and Danny Scott followed up to tie the game at four and force overtime.
In the extra frame, it was Dukeshire who played the hero, sending the home crowd into a frenzy with the Cup-clinching goal.
Goaltender Derek Hartley stood tall for Hanover, earning the playoff win and being named PJHL Playoff MVP for his stellar postseason performance.
This championship marks the culmination of four years of steady building for the Barons. They’ve topped the Pollock Division standings three times and reached the division finals in each of the past four seasons. Last year, they ended a 21-year drought by claiming their first-ever Pollock Division Trophy after a hard-fought seven-game series against the Mount Forest Patriots.
This season, the Barons cemented their offensive prowess at the top of the Pollock division standings, going 36-3-2-1 and recording 75 points.
This will the the second time in Barons franchise history that they’ve hoisted the Clarence Schmalz Cup.