NEWS

The Aurora Community Centre was packed with 1,600 fans during Rogers Hometown Hockey weekend Saturday. (Photo by Tim Bates / OJHL Images)

BY RON VALENTINE

They took a while to get rolling but Georgetown have now won their last five and continue to climb the West Division standings of the Ontario Junior Hockey League.

Oakville, ranked first in the CJHL last week, won one (number 25 on the season) and lost the other in overtime.

In the North, Aurora with a pair of setbacks this week may be looking over their shoulders, as Markham and Newmarket continue to gain ground. The Royals went three-for-three this week. 

 

MONDAY - There was a 38-point difference between the OAKVILLE BLADES and the STOUFFVILLE SPIRIT coming into their matinee meeting at Sixteen Mile and with the Blades on a nine-game win streak, the result of this one looked predictable. And it was with a 7-0 win for the home side as they recorded their seventh shutout this season, the fourth for Chris Elliot. Cameron Garvey, called up from the Oakville Rangers, got his first two OJHL goals and Garrett Pyke had a pair, the first one shorthanded, the second on the power play. He leads all OJHL defencemen with 35 points. Callum Jones had three assists for the Blades.

WEDNESDAY - Three games since 'the trade' and three wins for the no-longer last-place in the West GEORGETOWN RAIDERS – and they broke off the BRAMPTON ADMIRALS' six-game win streak in the process. A big game for Bailey Molella in the 5-1 win with two goals and two assists as the Raiders strengthened their spot as the most successful club in the league on the power play with three of the four coming via that route. Grant Spence had his first as a Raider. Bailey is too nice of a guy to say 'I told you so' after our conversation of a couple of weeks ago. Instead he just said, “I told you we were coming!”

The BUFFALO JUNIOR SABRES were at home in an inter-conference tilt against the MISSISSAUGA CHARGERS and this one was not close with Nathan Berke getting a hat trick with one shorthanded marker included and Adam Tretowicz picking up two goals to become the third player this season to hit the 20-goal mark. Alec Cicero also counted two goals. Three assists in his first game back for Trevor Peca. Final: 9-2 Junior Sabres. 

THURSDAY - Quite the night for MARKHAM ROYALS' Alessio Luciani as he potted four goals in his side's 6-3 doubling of the NEWMARKET HURRICANES in a battle of the North's second and third-place clubs. He had three on the power play and one shorthanded. The former member of the Whitecourt Wolverines of the AJHL and the St. Mary's Lincolns of the GOJHL is in campaign No. 2 with Markham and has now surpassed his points total of last season, with 36. Devyn Mayea had three assists. With the victory, the Royals leapfrog over the Hurricanes into second spot (28 pts. to 27) in a battle which looks to last for a good while.

Two goals from Rocco Andreacchi – the OJHL Kewl North-West player of the month for November – and Michael Hill and three assists from Vincent Bonaiuto led the Admirals' back into the win column quickly in their 7-3 victory over the BRANTFORD 99ERS. The visitors got out of the gate fast with a 3-0 lead before the game was five minutes old. That’s 32 points each now for Andreacchi and Bonaiuto, tops on the team.

FRIDAY - A shorthanded PICKERING PANTHERS got a big road win as they doubled the AURORA TIGERS 6-3. Eli Pilosof and Riley Girard led the way with a goal and two assists each. Their goals, just a minute apart, in the second period were the winner and the insurance marker. The Tigers' Joseph Mizzi opened the scoring with a goal that gave him the OHL lead on 23 and it came shorthanded. Tanner Sheppard made 39 saves in the victory.

A determined effort by the BURLINGTON COUGARS ended the Blades' 10-game winning run on an overtime goal by rookie blueliner Jack Harper in the 4-3 win. The Cougars' Josh LeBlanc and the Blades' Alton McDermott traded two goals each over the first two periods. Jeffrey Burridge got the home team ahead in the third but Josh Nixon got his first in a Blades' uniform to send the game into extra time. It was Oakville captain Peyton Reeves' first game back from a long suspension.

Former Junior Canadiens' star Matt Steen now a Cougar and second in team points scoring noted: “We have a very good, underrated team that will surprise some people come playoffs and we hope to keep it going. I'm looking forward to being able to keep producing and being a key contributor on the ice.” Looking ahead, Blades veteran assistant captain Jack Ricketts said: “We'll get a nice break over Christmas, which will be good for the boys. After that, the team needs to focus on getting good starts and playing the right way from here on out. Our loss was a flash of what playoff hockey will be like and it's good for the guys to realize that.”

Predictably the head coaches saw the game different ways. Cougars' Mark Jooris: “We sure enjoyed (the game), the kids battled hard.” Blades' Mike Tarnatino: “We didn't have a work ethic but give Burlington credit, they wanted that game. We were undisciplined as well. Not normally that way – It will be corrected.”

The Blades' Spencer Kersten had three assists as Canada East fell 5-3 to Russia in Game 1 Sunday at the World Junior A Challenge in Alberta.

Just traded from the WHITBY FURY to Georgetown, Thomas Hernandez came back to haunt his old team by scoring the game winner for the Raiders as they edged the Fury 3-2 on the road for their fourth win in a row. Jordan Crocker had two power play goals and an assist for the winners. The veteran has stepped up large of late with thirteen points in his last five appearances. Nathan Torchia was very big in making 46 stops to secure the win. Oddly, all the goals in this game came in the second period and both of the Fury's markers were from captain Greg Smith, giving him an even dozen for the season. Whitby's Derek McVey admitted it was definitely a little weird seeing so many familiar faces on the other side of the ice. It was just his second game since being traded by the Raiders. Ian Mckinnon's four penalty minutes put him as one of two players to go over 100 on the season.

SATURDAY - It was that man Alessio Luciani again getting two more for the Royals, including the winner 15 seconds into overtime. Make that 15 on the season and eight in his last four games. Trevor Peca scored his first of the season for Buffalo in the 3-2 loss in his second game back and it was that marker that forced the extra time. Markham head coach Mike Galati said: “Luciani has been a big reason for our success, he plays the right way and has become a leader on and off the ice. Hopefully he can continue this kind of play leading up to and after the holidays.”

It wasn't so long ago that many were asking: 'What's wrong with the Georgetown Raiders.” Now, they have a league-leading five-game winning streak on the go, after a 2-1 home victory over Burlington. Bailey Molella had the winner in the second period with contained all the game's goals. With both regular goalkeepers on the sidelines, the Cougars had Hamilton Bulldogs Midget AAA  Zachary Dietz starting. He saved 30 shots while Raiders' Carson Poulin repelled 29. Andrew Horsley had his first OJHL goal for Georgetown, the 17-year-old rookie played last season for the GOJHL's Brampton Bombers.

In a rematch from Thursday night, turnabout was fair play as the 99ers topped the Admirals 4-1. Bryan Zurowski's pair of goals put him at 21, good for third in the OJHL. Rookie Davis Young got the game decider, scoring his third since being acquired from Oakville. Josh Graziano was one busy goaltender saving 47 Admirals' shots. It was the eighth road win for Brantford compared to three at their two 'homes'. 99ers' President Darren deDobbelaer said that he is not surprised at the pace Zurowski is scoring at, even though he only had 10 for the Buffalo Junior Sabres last season. He noted that he gets first line and powerplay opportunities for the team. Opportunity is everything, he says, and Bryan is taking advantage of that.  

The Spirit of Stouffville stunned the visiting Panthers 4-1 for the second time in recent weeks. In a span of just over three minutes at the end of the second period three powerplay goals were scored: the first, and second of the game, from the Spirit's Kenny Styles; the Panthers' Ben Sellars and the Spirit's Kosta Mainikis, who also tallied two assists, as did Rizvan Mansurov. Pickering had just 15 skaters dressed, those missing included blueliner Dustyn McFaul, who is representing Canada East in Bonnyville, Alberta at the World Junior A Challenge. 

It was a full house, 1,600 people, with lots of things going on at the Aurora Community Centre, but in the game the Tigers went down to the North's second place Hurricanes 5-1. It was 'Hometown Hockey' night, a teddy bear toss for Southlake Hospital and four former Humboldt Broncos were honoured guests and participated in the ceremonial opening faceoff and the Tigers wore the Bronco's yellow and green colours. Jalen Balbosa's powerplay goal, the only one of the game, in the first period wad the winner. Mitchell Weeks got the victory, his eighth of the season, making 26 saves. The bears rained on to the ice when Payton Schaly got his second goal of the season late in the opening period.

Aurora Head Coach Rob DeFulviis noted that the play of the Tigers was a big disappointment to him. “We just did not show up to play,” he said, “but it was a night bigger than one hockey game.” Newmarket's captain Sheldon Nolan said: “It was an unforgettable night in Aurora. We didn't try to change our game too much or get too flustered by the big crowd, we just kept it simple and got through our third game in three days.” Jim Thomson, President of the Tigers, said that everyone was a winner in this game and noted that it was great to see a packed arena take it all in. A lot of people were involved in getting this together, he said, and praised the part the Hurricanes played in the pre-game. 

SUNDAY - Markham hosted Stouffville hoping to get back into second place in the North and they accomplished their mission with a 4-3 win. They are just eight points behind the Tigers and they have played a couple of games in hand. Christos Rodis gave the Royals a 4-1 lead early in the third before Connor May got a late powerplay goal and another with the Spirit net empty and five seconds left in the game. Royals' blueliner Devyn Mayea had an assist to extend his pointscoring run to nine games. The Burlington Eagles' graduate is in his second season with Markham after splitting the previous one with CCHL clubs: the Nepean Raiders and Gloucester Rangers.

Brampton played an inter-conference matinee against Mississauga and it went into overtime courtesy of the first OJHL goal from Chargers' call-up blueliner David Jesus. Mississauga's Kyle Lewis got the first goal of the game and then the decider in the second extra time session for the 5-4 win which ended their losing streak at six games. Brandon Yeamans scored his 19th for the winners. Maple's Tyler Capone had three assists for the Admirals.  

Follow Ron Valentine on Twitter @ronandlynda