Northmen win first senior hockey banner

Miramichi blasts Elsipogtog, brings city first senior hockey title in nearly 20 years

The Miramichi Mike’s Bar and Grill Northmen are the 2025 Beauséjour Senior Hockey League champions. (SUBMITTED PHOTO)

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MIRAMICHI - For the first time in their three-year history, the Miramichi Mike’s Bar and Grill Northmen are Beauséjour Senior Hockey League champions.

The Northmen blasted their longtime rivals, the Elsipogtog Hawks, 8-2 in Game 6 of the best-of-seven league final before a sold-out crowd on Friday at the Miramichi Civic Centre.

The Northmen led 2-0 after the opening frame. They scored three times in period two before sealing the Hawks’ fate with another three goals in the third to win the series 4-2.

The victory marked the first time a Miramichi team has won a senior hockey title since the Miramichi Phantoms achieved the feat in the North Shore Senior Hockey League in 2007. Northmen head coach and general manager David Morrison led the Phantoms that year, and current Miramichi captain Kris Keating was among the players.

The Phantoms’ triumph came nine years after the Miramichi Tim Hortons Leafs prevailed as Northumberland Dairy Senior AAA Hockey League champs in 1998.

Northmen forward Bryce Milson was named this year’s playoff MVP after recording 24 points (14 goals, 10 assists) in 16 games during the post-season.

“What a group of guys,” Milson told Unofficial Beauséjour Senior Hockey League Podcast co-host Corey Vautour after the game. “We aren’t necessarily the most skilled team, but we are the hardest-working. We dominated tonight. This team deserves it.

“I’ve played a lot of games in this rink over the years, and I don’t know if I’ve ever seen it this full in my lifetime. We have great fans, and we showed up for them all through the playoffs. It’s awesome for the city.”