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Alliston Hornets will meet Penetang Kings in first round of playoffs

March 10, 2022   ·   0 Comments

It’s going to be an Alliston/Penetang series to start the first round of playoffs in the Carruthers Division of the Provincial Junior Hockey League.

The Hornets finished the season in fourth place with a 20-9-1 record including one overtime loss after winning both of the two final regular season games.

Alliston hosted Penetang on Wednesday, March 2, on Hornets home ice and squeezed out a 3-2 win after getting the go-ahead goal in the second period. There was no scoring in the final frame.

Cole Turcotte got the opener at 6:27 in the first period. 

Turcotte tied the game at two, when he scored midway in the second period. 

Andrew Maltby gave the Hornets the lead on a goal at 14:17 into the second frame.

The Hornets were back on home ice on Friday, March 4, when they hosted the Huntsville Otters.

The Otters got a quick opening in Friday’s game scoring at 54 seconds into the game.

The Hornets fought back with Rhys Brown and Ben Beauseart each picking up first period goals to make it a 2-1 game at the end of the first period.

Mitchell Smilsky scored for Alliston late in the second period and Brown got his second goal of the game with just over a minute remaining on the clock.

The Otters slipped one past the Alliston goalie early in the third period. 

Smilsky got his second of the game at the 6:57 mark in the frame. 

Hunstville closed the gap with a goal at the midway mark. 

Alliston’s Duncan Grube scored late in the third.

Huntsville got a final goal with two minutes left in the game. 

The final was a 6-4 win for Alliston. 

“I thought we did a really poor job of executing on the powerplay,” said Hornets head coach Travis Chapman after the game. “We got a lot of zone time – we were in their end the whole time but we didn’t execute well enough when we had a man advantage. We had three, five-on-threes, and we got nothing out of that. Even in the third, to give up the goals we did and letting those guys to come in and shoot the puck – the execution on some plays wasn’t there. We created lots of offensive chances, but there was lots of stuff, if we’re going to win for the next two months, have to get cleaned up.”

The Hornets will now enter the first round of the Carruthers Division playoffs and be up against the fifth place Penetang Kings. The Kings have not had a really good year, losing more games than they have won, but they can’t be counted out as a contender as they have a lot of ability to play hard when they need to. 

“In the games we played them, they got some really good goal tending, and then there’s Kyler Watson – he’s a game breaking forward where all of a sudden he’s a got a chance where he can score,” Chapman summed about what they are up against. “We’ve had the issue with them in a couple of games where we’ve played really well and carried the whole play, their goalies played really well, then they get one or two breaks and the right guy gets it on his stick and they get a win. Which I think is sort of their formula. For us it’s going to be controlled play, controlled pace, and force them to play four lines against us. Over the course of the series our four lines should wear them down and create enough offence for us to win a series like that.”

That series got underway on Wednesday, March 9, in Alliston, with results not available at press time.

Game Two is schedule for Friday, March 11, in Penetang. 

Game Three will take place on Sunday, March 13, in Alliston.

By Brian Lockhart
Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

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