All year
long Orillia’s Millwood Logistics Novice A Terriers proved that they had the
heart and character to fight back after falling behind, and they did it once
again in Game 3 of the York-Simcoe Championship finals to capture the title in
a three game sweep of the Bradford Bulldogs.
The first two games of the series were edge-of-your seat thrillers with neither team holding more than a one-goal advantage over the other, and Orillia was fortunate to earn both victories by a score of 3-2.
Little was different in Game 3, except that after Aiden MacDonald banged in a rebound to knot the score at one in the second period, Orillia finally opened up its first two-goal lead of the series in the third period. The first goal came on a hard-working, unassisted effort by Ridley Tucker to give Orillia the lead, and then Carter Balkwill gave the Terriers some breathing room as he stepped around two Bradford defenders to put one in the top corner of the Bradford net. Jesse Mole assisted on both Tucker’s and MacDonald’s goals to round out the Terriers’ offence.
After that, team defence and some exceptional goaltending by Carter Oakley kept Bradford off the board until the Bulldogs managed a 6-on-4 powerplay goal with only forty-three seconds left in the game. But that was the closest the Bulldogs would get, and Orillia celebrated the victory and the series championship title with a 3-2 win.
“It was an excellent series and I’m very proud of our boys,” said Head Coach, Andy Long. “We earned a reputation this year as being the hardest-working team in our league, and I’m glad the boys’ hard work and dedication paid off.”
It wasn’t an easy road to the York-Simcoe title for the Terriers, as they had to shake off a tough loss in the opening round of the OMHA playdowns to the Barrie Colts, who later went on to reach the All-Ontario finals. But as they did all year long, the Terriers were able to re-group and focus on the task at hand, plowing through the Aurora Tigers and the NobleKing Knights on their way to the York-Simcoe Championship Final.
In the opening game of the series, the Terriers travelled to Bradford to take on the Bulldogs. Bradford came out hard in front of their home town fans, but Orillia was equal to the task. After Bradford opened the scoring in the middle of the first, Ridley Tucker responded for Orillia less than thirty seconds later on a nice feed from Jesse Mole to tie it up.
The second period was almost a carbon copy of the first, with Bradford taking the lead only to have the Terriers immediately reply to knot the score at two apiece. This time it was Tucker and Cam Carruthers setting up Colsen Maracle for the goal. But they weren’t done yet, as Orillia kept pressing and Mole converted a beautiful pass from Tucker to pot the go-ahead and game-winning goal less than a minute later.
The one-goal lead was all that goaltender Carter Oakley needed, as he shut the door on the Bulldogs the rest of the way to seal the victory.
Back in Orillia for game 2, team captain Aiden MacDonald opened the scoring for the Terriers just ten seconds into the game to grab the early lead. The goal came when MacDonald pounced on a lucky bounce after a nice rush up-ice by Mole and Maracle to earn the assists.
Orillia was largely out-played by Bradford for the balance of the first and second periods, but the Bulldogs could only manage to get a single goal past Oakley before the second period came to a close. Orillia jumped out of the gate again in the third, and this time it was Maracle scoring just ten seconds into the period on a nice feed from Mole. Bradford continued to press and they were finally able to get another one past Oakley to tie the score at two with fewer than seven minutes left in the game. Orillia closed out the game strong, but they needed some excellent saves by Oakley and two minutes of overtime before winning the nail-biter when Maracle ripped home the winner on a nice feed from MacDonald.
The Millwood Logistics Novice A Terriers will now represent the York-Simcoe Minor Hockey League at the York Simcoe Lakeshore Challenge Tournament in Quinte in early April to close out their season.
PHOTO:
From right to left:
Front Row: Goalies Carter Oakley and Dylan Rankin
Next Row: Aiden Shilling and Team Captain Aiden MacDonald
Third Row: Chase Beiers, Matt Worsley, Devante Choptiany, Tyler Colebrook, Jesse Mole, Colsen Maracle, Ridley Tucker, Carter Balkwill, Cooper Long, Cameron Carruthers, Will Timpano & Kaden Noble
Coaches: Chris Beiers, Head Coach Andy Long, Manager Tim Timpano, Ian MacDonald and Trainer Jeff Noble