NEWS

Brandon Francisco (photo credit - Catherine Reid/OJHL Images) scored at 6:17 of overtime to give the Newmarket Hurricanes a come-from-behind 3-2 victory over the Kingston Voyageurs at the Invista Centre in Kingston on Thursday night. With the win, before a game five crowd of almost 1,000 spectators, the ‘Canes now sit one win away from capturing the OJHL North-East Conference Championship and earning a berth in the OJHL Championship Series for the Buckland Cup.

Neither club had much in the way of scoring chances in a cautiously-played opening stanza, as the Vees potted the only goal at 18:09 courtesy of Dylan Hutton. Despite having the territorial edge in play, the Vees only outshot the Canes 12-11.

The quality and pace of play picked up in period two. Newmarket equalized early with Travis Dermott sneaking in from the point to bury a behind-the-net feed from Chris Chiste at 1:03. Just over six minutes later, the Vees regained the lead on a power play goal from David Quesnele, his sixth of the post-season.

Midway through the second, Newmarket went down two men in the span of six seconds, however; backed by the usual fine goaltending of Matthew Wintjes, the ‘Canes killed off the two-man disadvantage. Final shots in period two were 11-9 in favour of Newmarket.

For much of the third period it appeared that the home side was in control as Kingston controlled much of the play. The Hurricanes couldn’t produce anything in the way of a good scoring opportunity until the 18:35 mark, when with the extra-attacker on the ice, and following a twenty-second frenzy of action around the Kingston goal, Austin Rigney finished off a goalmouth scramble to tie the score and send the game into extra time. Newmarket once again held the shot advantage 14-12 in the period. This was not indicative of the period’s play though, as Kingston had several good chances to finish off the ‘Canes.

Francisco’s OT-winner came off of another goalmouth scramble in front of Finn after the two teams had traded odd-man rushes and great scoring opportunities.  Shots in the overtime were even at four apiece, with Newmarket holding the overall edge, 40-37.

Both netminders were their stellar selves with Wintjes stopping 32 shots for the victory and Finn turning aside 25 in the loss.

Game six in the series goes Saturday night, April 6 at 7:30pm at the Ray Twinney Complex in Newmarket. All minor hockey players wearing their game jerseys will be admitted to the game free of charge.

For a full game summary, please CLICK HERE.

North-East Conference Championship

Game One          Newmarket 2 @ Kingston 3 (OT) (KIN leads series 1-0)
Game Two          Kingston 0 @ Newmarket 1 (Series tied 1-1)
Game Three       Newmarket 1 @ Kingston 3 (Kingston leads series 2-1)
Game Four         Kingston 2 @ Newmarket 3 (Series tied 2-2)
Game Five          Newmarket 3 @ Kingston 2 (OT) (Newmarket leads series 3-2)
Game Six             Kingston @ Newmarket                                Apr. 6, 7:30pm
Game Seven      Newmarket @ Kingston                                Apr. 8, 7:00pm (if necessary)