Wolves will meet Thundercats in first round
By Josh Howald
It will be Ripley and Durham in the opening round.
The Wolves split weekend games to finish fourth overall (14-9-0-1) in the WOAA Senior AA North Division. That means the playoffs will kick off with a best-of-seven series against the fifth-place Durham Thundercats (12-9-0-2).
Jeremy McQuillin fires a shot at Shelburne goaltender Friday night in Ripley. The Wolves walked away from the Fish in the third period to take a 7-3 win over the Muskies. The Wolves will now face Durham in the opening round, while Shelburne will take on Shallow Lake. (Josh Howald photo)
After a big win at home Friday night over Shelburne, the Wolves entered Saturday night’s game in Port Elgin with the possibility of Durham, Shallow Lake and Mapleton-Minto as first round opponents. However, Ripley couldn’t knock off the Winterhawks for a third time this season, while Shelburne beat Lucknow to finish third and draw Shallow Lake. The Winterhawks finish second with the win over the Wolves, and will meet the 81's while the first place Elora Rocks will take on the Lucknow Lancers in the North Division playoffs.
Friday night in Ripley, the Wolves waltzed away from the visiting Muskies with four third period goals in a 7-2 win. The turning point came late in the second when Travis VanGaver scored a power play goal to put the Wolves up 3-2. Ripley’s power play had been struggling up until that point, as the Wolves failed to earn even a shot on goal in two straight man advantages.
VanGaver then scored the eventual game winner early in the third. He also added two assists in this game for a four point night. He had a helper on Chad Colling’s goal just 15 seconds after the puck was dropped, and on the Nick Locking’s 18th goal of the season in the third period. Locking had two assists, while Jeremy McQuillin had three helpers on the night.
Kyle Wreford made this game 2-1 at 5:43 of the first from Nathan Gavey and Devin Kemp, and the Muskies got one back less than a minute later from the stick of Brad Horan. Tyler Hogan tied the game, scoring for the Muskies on a penalty shot early in the second. VanGaver made it 3-2, then 4-2 and Tyler DeVos, Locking and Mark Stanley gave the Wolves a 7-2 lead. Mike Marshall scored with 30 seconds left to make it a 7-3 final.
Saturday night in Port Elgin, it was the Winterhawks who would walk away in the third period. Saugeen Shores led 4-3 after two periods, but scored three unanswered third period goals in a 7-3 victory that assured the defending champions third place overall.
Locking opened the scoring with a shorthanded marker, but Darryl McKinnon, Shawn Walker and Curtis Johnson each scored first period goals as the hosts took a 3-1 lead to the first intermission. Kemp and Stanley scored goals less than a minute apart, but McKinnon’s second of the game the Winterhawks a 4-3 lead at the second break. McKinnon completed the hat trick in the third period, as did Johnston with a pair of goals. Brian Kazarian had four assists for Saugeen Shores to unofficially claim the WOAA’s league scoring title with 17 goals and 37 assists.
Elsewhere in the North Division on the weekend, the Winterhawks beat Elora 5-2, Durham beat Shallow Lake 6-2, the Rocks beat Minto-Mapleton 5-2, Lucknow lost 8-3 to Shelburne but Sunday night defeated the 81’s 7-3 with just nine skaters.
In the South, Clinton beat Milverton 5-2 but was edged out 2-1 by Tavistock, while Komoka defeated Petrolia 7-4 and edged out Tavistock in a shootout, 5-4. Tillsonburg beat Monkton and Milverton, both by 5-2 scores and Thedford beat Goderich 5-3.
Goderich finished winless (0-24) on the season and will meet first place Komoka (21-2-0-1) in the opening round. Second place Clinton (20-4) will meet Thedford (4-20), while third place Tavistock will take on Monkton and Tavistock will play Milverton. In what should be a vicious opening round match-up, rivals Tillsonburg and Petrolia will meet as the #4 and #5 seeds. Those two had a benches empty donnybrook earlier this season.