NEWS

It will be the pre-race favourites- the Georgetown Raiders and the Trenton Golden Hawks in the Dudley-Hewitt Cup final.

 

The Raiders came fast out of the gate fast and it was 2-0 by the 3.21 mark of the first frame. The line of Jack Jacome, Jordan Crocker and Josh Dickinson which did so much damage in the regular season for the OJHL champions got them off on the right foot in this one. Crocker dug the puck out from beside the VooDoos net and flipped a pass to Jacome who quickly deposited the puck behind Nate McDonald. On the second goal Dickinson cut in front but could not get a shot in but Crocker picked up the loose puck and quickly whipped it home. It was hard at this point to imagine there would not be another goal until very close to the end of this game. The Raiders would get 17 more shots on McDonald but would see no reward.

 

It was a scoreless but very physical second period with neither club able to take advantage of many man-advantage situations. Powassan's Tyson Gilmour on one shift had two shorthanded breakaways, on the first he shot high over and on the second Georgetown goalkeeper Josh Astorino got his arm on the puck to deflect it over. The VooDoos could not get it going with a two-man advantage for over a minute, controlling the puck but not getting clear shots as the Raiders employed an aggressive penalty-kill. It was not a good period offensively for the VooDoos as they recorded just two shots on goal while the Raiders had sixteen.

 

Powassan's lack of discipline in the third cost them three two man short situations but despite good puck control the 'insurance' goal was elusive for the Raiders. McDonald came up with the save of the game- a quick glove on a snapshot from Matthew Thom to keep the VooDoos in it. With just under four minutes left in the period and his club enjoying the man-advantage McDonald was off to the bench then another penalty gave Powassan a two-up scenario and this time they did connect as Gary Mantz flung a cross-ice pass to Dayton Murray charging in on the right side and he one-timed a laser past Astorino to set up the frantic finish that had looked impossible earlier. Astorino had to be sharp to deny Gabriel Rheault as the seconds ticked off and the puck was all around the Georgetown cage but no dice and the Raiders celebrated the win and will be meeting their OJHL foes for the ninth time in the post-season!

 

McDonald ended up making 42 saves to be a worthy first star while Astorino stopped just half as many. Dickinson had two assists and Crocker and Jacome one each.

 

All of the VooDoos will have another chance to raise the Dudley-Hewitt Cup next year in Dryden with no 1996-born players on their roster.