The Jr. C Alliston Hornets drew a line in the sand tonight (Saturday) as the team downed the Napanee Raiders 6-5 in game one of the Schmalz Cup eastern semi-finals.
Napanee is a team not used to losing of late. The Raiders swept the two series they played leading to their Empire League championship win and suffered their first loss in post-season play to the Georgina Ice in game three of the quarter finals of the All-Ontario Championship race, they went on to drop game four, but came back in game five and the final to clinch it in the seventh and deciding game.
For the complete synopsis and background see the related article link at right.
The two teams will meet again for game two in Alliston tomorrow night (Sun., April 6) at the New Tecumseth Recreation Complex at 6:30 p.m. If you can't make it to the game, log on to www.allistonherald.com for live updates. Remember to click refresh frequently.
But the Hornets, in the first game of the Schmalz semi-final series, let it be known that they didn't come this far just to hand it over, and played with the confidence of a championship team.
The 6-5 close score could be indicative of another long series, but the Hornets also won the coin toss before the game to determine home-ice advantage, so should the series go to seven games, four of them will be played at the New Tecumseth Recreation Complex.
As the game got underway, the Raiders drew first blood just under seven minutes into play when one of their scoring sensations, Andrew Halliday took advantage of a powerplay and passes from Peter Sergeant and Peter Roy to take the early 1-0 lead.
But it was short lived. The Hornets' Thomas Faris tied it just over a minute and a half later off passes from Kyle McDowell and Mike James.
Napanee left the first frame with a 2-1 lead when Peter Sergeant scored on Hornet netminder Jon Porretta on a short-handed, unassisted play. The Hornets should have been looking out for it. As posted in our prelim report, in game seven against Georgina, Sergeant scored two back-to-back goals on short-handed breakaways in the first period, one unassisted - just 13 seconds apart. He was the number three leading scorer in the regular season in his loop with 44 goals and 45 assists in the 37 games he played. Halliday boasted high numbers as well, with 38 goals and 41 assists in 38 games.
The Hornets hit the ice in the second frame with a new fire in their eyes. The result? Three goals in a row to take a commanding 4-2 lead.
The first marker was scored by Kurtis Brossard on an unassisted play just two minutes and 54 seconds into the play.
Then Alliston's hulking Luke Vanderhulst showed he's all healed up from his knee injury in the last series by moving the Hornets ahead with a goal on a play from James and, believe it or not, Porretta.
Hornets post-season scoring sensation Zenon Byblow made it 4-2 in the second on a powerplay at the 7:09 mark off passes from Brandon Elliott and McDowell.
If the Hornets thought they were sitting pretty then, they were wrong. The Raiders stormed back with two successive goals to tie it up before the buzzer sounded to end the second frame.
Peter Roy notched the first goal off Halliday and Sergeant, proving once again they are a formidable line. Then Jeremy Burley beat Porretta from John Stapley and Tyler Soule to tie it at 4-4.
The second frame also a little loose with infractions. The normally calm, cool and collected Raiders spent 10 minutes in the box, but Alliston accrued a 10-minute misconduct by Eric Shannon for inciting and a double minor spearing penalty to McDowell.
It all came down to the final 20 minutes of hockey. Once again Alliston found its legs and came out hard in the bottom half of the frame.
Byblow scored his second of the night from Faris and Cole Parker after a lean first 10 minutes of play. Slightly better than a minute later Shannon scored what would be the game winner off a pass from Mitch Ronan.
Napanee came within one with less than five minutes left in the frame as Ben Tee scored from Chris Lewis and Anthony Salamone, but their scoring dried up after that as the Hornets held on to win it.
The Hornets pounded Raider goalie Zak Vandenburg in this one as he faced 55 shots from Alliston snipers. Porretta faced 33 from the Raiders.
In total Alliston took 28 minutes in penalties on 10 calls, while the Raiders suffered through 18 minutes on nine infractions.
The series comes to Alliston tomorrow (Sunday night) at the New Tecumseth Recreation Complex with the puck drop at 6:30 p.m. Advance tickets are on sale at the Rec Complex kiosk, but only a limited number will be sold, so get yours early.
Game three will also be played in Alliston Tues., April 8 with an 8:30 p.m. start. Game four is back in Napanee at the Strathcona Paper Centre two nights later on Thurs., April 10 at 8:30 p.m. Game five if needed will be at the New Tec Rec Complex on Sun., April 13, with game six slated for Napanee on Tues., April 15 at 8:30 p.m. and game seven in Alliston on Thurs., April 17 at 8:30 p.m.
