One Timer: Scoring the winner, no better feeling

There's no better feeling than lifting the trophy at the end of the season.

Okay, maybe there is one thing better: lifting the first championship trophy for your team after scoring the title-clinching goal.

For CJ Watson, that dream became a reality this spring.

Born in Weymouth, Mass., Watson and family moved out to Whitefish when he was 12.

Watson had played youth hockey growing up, but it was in his first two years in Stumptown that he dedicated himself to the sport.

“I would say I am a product from Whitefish,” Watson, now 18, said. “Every summer when I skated was at the Ice Den. That’s really where everything came from, my skills and everything.”

His father, Conor Watson — owner of Northern Heritage Builders — played hockey himself and got CJ playing from a young age.

As the younger Watson’s skills developed, he attended school back out east at Mount St. Charles Academy in Rhode Island.

Though he spent his school years on the Atlantic coast, he credits his summers in Whitefish with his development.

“I spent 4 or 5 years at Stumptown Ice Den, training and honing my skills,” Watson said.

In those summers, he found mentoring from others on the ice, including local hockey veteran Jack Hutchinson.

“I skated with him often,” Watson said. “He is one of the guys with a lot of ice time and skills that made time for me.”

Another mentor for Watson is Utah Mammoth defenseman Ian Cole, who also spends time in the offseason at a house in Whitefish.

This prepared Watson as he joined the Canmore Eagles for the 2025-26 season in the Alberta Junior Hockey League (AJHL). Canmore is near the Alberta-British Columbia border, close to Banff and about 60 miles west of Calgary.

It wasn’t easy for him initially.

“I am close to home, but it was a big jump for me,” Watson said. “Going from high school hockey to making a jump to juniors, I was 17, turning 18, now I'm playing against 20-year-olds.”

As the season moved on, Watson found his skating legs on the Eagles’ blue line, leading all defensemen in the playoffs with nine points, including maybe the biggest goal in Canmore history.

Playing Whitecourt in Game 5 of a best-of-7 finals series, Watson found himself past the Wolverines defense and made a move towards the net and put home the go-ahead goal in the second period. Canmore won the game 2-1 and the series 4-1 for the first title in the Eagles’ 31-year history.

“The next day we drove back and the whole town was crazy,” Watson said. “There was a giant crowd outside of the rink. We toured all the schools and businesses with the cup. Everyone was saying hello and taking photos. We were celebrities of the area.”

As for Watson, its a moment that will live in his mind forever.

“The feeling of scoring that goal I can’t even explain,” Watson said. “It is going to be one of the most memorable times of my life. The intensity was high, the crowd was crazy, there was a lot of pressure and it just happened.”

The job is not done for the Eagles, as Watson and company are currently in Summerside, Prince Edward Island for the Centennial Cup — the Canadian youth hockey national championship. Nine provincial champions along with a host team compete, divided into two groups playing round-robin before the top teams are put into a bracket.

“Every year, the Alberta league has the strongest teams, but there is some good competition here right now,” Watson said, adding that Canmore was seen as a bit of an underdog going into the event.

After going 3-1 in the round-robin, the Eagles are set for a quarterfinal matchup at 1 p.m. today against the Toronto Patriots.

Win or lose, Watson is excited to continue his development with Canmore in the coming seasons before a potential move to NCAA hockey and beyond. He was also listed by a team in the Red Deer Rebels of the WHL — also a junior league that plays in Canada and the Western U.S.

No matter where he is though, Watson will always have the memory of delivering Canmore its first AJHL championship.