Acadia Wins 5th Continental Cup

The Grizzly Bears capture their record setting 5th SICHL championship after committing regicide of the London Monarchs.
by Marcel Cormier | June 7, 2026

"Bears Nation, give me a high five!," shouted broadcaster Cam Moon, "The Acadia Grizzly Bears are back on top of the SICHL as 2025-26 Continental Cup champions!!"

Chris Kreider's redirection at the 4:07 mark of overtime was the difference in Game 4 and saw the Grizzlies sweep the London Monarchs on foreign ice at the beautiful Buckingham Ice Palace. The fourth game of the series was a back and forth affair that saw London have a 1-goal lead on three seperate occassions with the Bears ahead early in the 3rd only to see the home side even things up a few minutes later. 

"You have to tip you hat to them, they definitely made us work for it," said captain Calude Giroux, now a 4-time Cup winner. "The story will say it was a sweep and years from now people will forget how tight this series really was. We had to win twice in overtime, both of those games on the road. It just as easily could have been tied after 4 games and we'd still be playing."

Indeed, to a man, every Acadian player or executive we spoke with went out of their way to credit and applaud the efforts of the Monarchs. 

"I mean, they did the entire league a favour by upsetting Havana and waving away the dark cloud that had hung over everyone these last three years," said Jacob Trouba. "Make no mistake, we wanted to be the ones to do that but in the end, all that matters is that we have the Cup again and they don't."

Acadia's playoff drive featured a trio of 5-game series on their way to the final including victories over Vancouver Island, Niagara and Montreal. In all, it took the Bears 19 games to win 16 times - the second fewest amount of games they've played to achieve that goal. Of course no one will forget the 16-0 run from 2006-07 but the 2012 and 2016 Bears both did it in 22 games while in 2015 the team played 27 times.

Five different goaltenders have led the Grizzlies to the top of the mountain but surprisingly, Logan Thompson now has a share for the franchise's most playoff wins by a netminder at 27 with Braden Holtby who has his number hanging from the rafters of Acadia Place. It should be noted that Thompson has only played 39 playoff games while Holtby appeared in 57. 

"Logan was outstanding for us, no question in my mind that he should be named as the Jarri Kurri winner this year," said veteran blueliners Colton Parayko.

That is a sentiment held by every person we spoke with after the game and back in Saint John when the team returned to a jubiliant city.

"I think this year, more than any other, it was our depth that came through and was the difference for us," said caoch Dave Hakstol, "Of course our best players played like you'd hope and expect but our bottom 6 forwards contributed a lot too and we got a lot of offence from our blueline. It was a team effort in that regard but I agree with what everyone else has been saying; Logan should be the MVP.

Of course that won't be announced until a later date when the league holds its annual Awards Banquet. 

Off Season, What Off Season?

The celebration in Saint John will last all summer long but the business of the team never stops. Acadia has a trio of key players scheduled to become unrestricted free agents in Parayko, Adam Lowry and Kreider who scored the Cup winning goal. One will assuredly be given the Franchise Player tag and return to the team while the other two will get to test free agency for the first time in their career. Acadia will take its time before making the FP decision but they already know what they'll do with the two that they let go.

"We'll be the first team in free agency to be offering them new contracts," declared GM Guy Flaming, "I want to keep all three of them, I can't though so I'll have to open the purse strings to try and win them back."

Acadia will be picking last in each round of the 2026 SICHL Draft with exception of the 1st round as they hold Havana's pick, 28th overall.

Bear Tracks

  • Forward Brock Boeser, traded to Havana in 2025 and then brought back to Acadia via offer sheet, had a massive season. The 27-year-old scored 40 goals and 84 points which were both, by far, personal records. 
  • Just like in 2024, Mikko Rantanen led Acadia in playoff scoring once again. The Finnish power forward notched 23 points this time after compilinjg 37 in 2024.
  • Impending Restricted Free Agents Jake Neighbours, Morgan Barron, Andrew Peeke and Logan Thompson are all expeted to be back in the fall. Peeke, who only played 10 games all season, is expected to facor into the line up should Parayko not be back. Peeke will have competition though from would-be rookies Sam Rinzel and Wyatt Kaiser.
  • Prospect goaltender Dylan Garand is also due to become an RFA but he will be resigned in the fall while fellow GHA roster player, Chase Wheatcroft, has been told that a contract will not be extended to him and his agent can seek out a trade with another SICHL team.
  • Prospect netminder Lucas Beckman backstopped the Chicoutimi Sagueneens to a QMJHL title and to the Memorial Cup in Kelowna. A week later he has been traded to the Cape Breton Eagles of the QMJHL who look like they will be aggessively looking to be contenders in 2027. 

Expected Villeneuve Villains (GHA) Rookies 2026-27

NCAA Notes - switching college teams

Junior to NCAA

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