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Alliston Hornets claim Carruthers Division Championship

March 22, 2019   ·   0 Comments

By Brian Lockhart

The Alliston Hornets claimed the Carruthers Division championship with a win over the Penetang Kings on Wednesday, March 13, in Penetang.

The final game was the end of a best-of-seven series that saw the Hornets sweep the Kings in four games straight.

It was an unlikely final series. The Kings finished in fourth place in the League standings then pulled of an underdog win over the first place Stayner Siskins in their semi-final series to move on to the championship against the Hornets.

Game One of the championship series got underway on March 6 and ended with a 4-0 Alliston shut-out.

The Hornets were ahead 2-0 after winning 4-3 in the second game.

After a 6-2 win in Game Three, the Hornets needed one win to take the championship.

The teams were back on the ice in Penetang for the fourth game.

The Hornets opened the scoring in the first period with a goal from Jakob Power.

It was tied when the Kings scored at 16 seconds into the second.

Alliston’s Jack Beck scored just over two minutes later.

It was again tied up when the Kings notched a goal just 3:15 into the period.

Ryan McReynolds scored on a short-handed effort midway into the frame for a 3-2 Alliston lead.

Penetang got a late period goal to set the game up with a 3-3 tie and one period left to play.

After giving up another goal early in the third, Alliston’s Caden Maher scored at 9:02 to again tie the game.

It was an exciting finish. With fans starting to think the game was going into overtime, Alliston forward, Alex Sebestyen, got the winning goal with just 1:21 left on the clock to make it a 5-4 game to give the Hornets the win and the championship.

“I think we played real well the first three games,” said Hornets coach Travis Chapman of the series. “I think we got off to the start we wanted tonight, but through this game I think we were far sloppier than we needed to be. That being said, they did a real good job of forcing us into turn-overs and putting pressure on us. They created a lot of their own goals tonight so I’ll give them a lot of credit. I think they had a game plan coming into it. For us, we thought our depth would be the difference and I think that’s how it ended up. Our whole game plan in the series was to get on their D, get turnovers, and once you have it get it to the net and get bodies to the net and create traffic. When you’re playing against a quality goaltender you want to create as many problems as you can. When they got the lead and we finally got going later in the third, it was that pressure on the puck and the turnovers, and we did a real good job on the forecheck and getting to the net.”

With the Division championship behind them, the Hornets will now enter the provincial playoffs in a bid for the Junior C Schmalz Cup.

The Hornets will play the winner of the Pollock Division in the quarter-final round.

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