News

As published in the Independent Free Press.

A 2-0 victory in Buffalo Monday afternoon was the Georgetown Raiders’ fifth straight win since losing to the Jr. Sabres in the first game back from the Ontario Junior Hockey League holiday break on Jan. 6.

It was also Georgetown’s first triumph over the Jr. Sabres in four tries in 2017-18 to complete the West Division rivals’ regular-season series, played in front of just 110 spectators at the home of the NHL’s Buffalo Sabres, the KeyBank Center.

Josh Nixon and leading scorer Jason Smith supplied the offence for the 27-10-1-2 Raiders, who are quickly climbing back up the South West Conference standings by winning seven of their last eight starts.

Rookie Nathan Torchia made 28 saves for his second career shutout and Vaughan midget AAA call-up Dustin Hutton earned an assist in his first junior game.

Georgetown was slated to host Orangeville on Wednesday, Jan. 17 at 7:30 p.m. after blasting the host Flyers Sunday afternoon, 6-1.

Goals by Bailey Molella, newcomer Mitch Luzar and Brendan D’Agostino in a 1:38 span midway through the middle stanza sent the Raiders on their way. Paul, Jordan Crocker and Smith rounded out the scoring.

The Raiders’ big pickup at the league’s roster cut-down date, netminder Troy Timpano of the Ontario Hockey League-champion Erie Otters, was suspended before the puck even dropped Jan. 14 as the 20-year-old was assessed a gross misconduct penalty for shooting the puck over the glass.

Signed as a free agent by Georgetown last week after being released by the rebuilding Otters, Timpano made his Alcott Arena debut on Saturday night, Jan. 13, in a 3-1 win over the Toronto Jr. Canadiens.

Timpano, who was out of Erie’s lineup since Dec. 11 with an undisclosed injury, made 29 stops for the W. Andrew Court was credited with the winning goal but it was actually scored by a Toronto defender. D’Agostino and Crocker also found the net.

Raiders’ coach and general manager Greg Walters has usually been one of the more active participants on deadline day and he pulled off a bit of a surprising deal this year, sending starting netminder Mario Cavaliere to the Surrey Eagles of the British Columbia Hockey League in exchange for forward Domenic Dumas.

Dumas, 18, is a six-foot-one, 180-pound native of Osoyoos, B.C., who had two goals and two assists in 34 games with Surrey, along with 34 penalty minutes. He chipped in an assist in the win against Orangeville.

The Raiders are slated to host the 28-9-1-5 North York Rangers on Saturday, Jan. 20 at 7:30 p.m., followed by a trip to Milton Sunday afternoon, Jan. 21, to take on the last-place IceHawks.