Warriors’ Parker Finbow brings chill, stoicism to hockey outcomes

St. Mary’s Warrior Evan Lockhart (left) battles for the puck with St. Joe’s Ram Quinn Wilson. (Jeff Tribe Photo)

Jeff Tribe, Echo Correspondent

Surviving the unavoidable contrast between victory and defeat is endemic to the Finbow family’s divided athletic house.

Woodstock St. Mary’s Warrior hockey forward Parker’s dad, Tim, hails from Rhode Island and, along with his clan, represents a cadre of staunch Boston Bruins supporters. It can be a direct and sometimes painful counterpoint to his mom, Angie and her family’s lifetime allegiance to the Toronto Maple Leafs.

“Always a feud going on,” said Parker. “Half Boston, other half Leafs fans.”

Tim got to his son while still young and impressionable, turning him to the Bruins’ black and gold.

“Took the better half, I guess,” Parker smiled, unable to avoid a chirp toward his blue-and-white-blooded relations.

There is, however, a line in the ice. Parker centred on the red-and-white of Canada’s maple leaf internationally, alignment with Angie emphasized during the 2026 Winter Olympics. Tim may have been happy with the Canadian hockey women’s 2-1 overtime loss in the gold medal game, but Parker was firmly in Angie’s nation of birth’s camp. Disappointed perhaps, but also respecting the effort Marie Philip-Poulin and company put in.

“Hopefully we win with the men’s, right?”

Which is to say, Parker had an early and ongoing introduction to the reality games will not always turn out the way one hopes. He is reminded each time the Bruins face off against the Leafs, at times when Team Canada suits up against Team USA, and Friday, February 20th as his own Warriors dropped a third and deciding Thames Valley Regional Athletics (TVRA) Southeast quarter-final boys hockey playoff game to the visiting St. Thomas St. Joe’s Rams.

“Six-oh isn’t the result you want,” he said. “But we played a good series, gave them our all I thought.”

The Warriors had opened the best-of-three set with a 4-3 win on Friday, Feb. 13, dropping a narrow 3-2 decision the following Wednesday. The third and deciding match would not play out as closely as the visiting Rams took a 3-0 lead out of the first period on goals by Luke VanVelzer, Kaje Thorogood and Quinn Wilson.

What arguably was the Warriors final chance at cutting into that lead came toward the end of the second period, a penalty shot denied.

“He did the right thing,” said St. Mary’s coach Joe Burgess, crediting Rams’ goalie Liam Rouse for a quality save. “No point in dwelling on one moment in a 45-minute game.”

Hunter van den Acker said the Warriors hadn’t come out strongly enough against a strong, physical St. Joe’s team.

“We didn’t get enough pucks to the net, not strong enough on the puck.”

The result hadn’t been what the Warriors had in mind, agreed Burgess.

“But proud of the boys and the effort they put in this year.”

Finbow had certainly enjoyed the season, fun with coaches and “the boys in the locker room” the best parts. Taking after his mom’s ‘chill’ genetics, he pointed out he’d ‘wake up tomorrow’ regardless of his or any other game’s outcome. His hopes for another North American final were answered as the Canadian men’s team battled back from a 2-0 deficit to tie the game at two as the Warriors and Rams filed off the ice. Finbow joined 50-odd players, coaches, parents and randoms watching a live feed in the Woodstock Community Complex lobby, breaking into cheers as Nathan MacKinnon buried the game-winner.

“Something to cheer about today,” smiled St. Mary’s assistant coach Denys Reid.

The Ingersoll DCI Blue Bombers remain in the TVRA Southeast playoff picture. Tied at one with the Lord Dorchester Beavers, the deciding game of their quarter-final series was delayed by inclement weather to Monday, Feb. 23, in Ingersoll. The winner will advance to a best-of-three semi-final against Tillsonburg Glendale, scheduled to open Tuesday, Feb. 24. St. Joe’s advanced to face St. Thomas Parkside in the other Southeast semi.

The TVRA Southeast girls' hockey playoff picture has also come into focus. The Woodstock CI Red Devils and IDCI Blue Bombers were scheduled to open their best-of-three final Monday, Feb. 23, continuing Wednesday and concluding the following Monday (March 2) if necessary. The Red Devils swept St. Thomas St. Joe’s 1-0 and 4-1, while the Bombers skated past Aylmer East Elgin by scores of 7-3 and 5-2.

The Bombers and Red Devils have already qualified for the Western Ontario Secondary Schools Athletic Association AA finals on Tuesday, March 10, in London.

The Woodstock Huron Park Huskies and St. Mary’s Warriors are scheduled to face off in a B Pool semi-final on Thursday, Feb. 26, at the Woodstock Community Complex. The winner will face the winner between Parkside and Lord Dorchester.