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Hornets are done for the season

April 18, 2013   ·   0 Comments

After a solid season that included hoisting the Georgian Mid Ontario Junior C Hockey League championship cup, the Alliston Hornets finally hit a wall when it came to their semi-final series against the Picton Pirates of the Empire B Junior C League.

The end came Wednesday night (April 10) at the New Tecumseth Recreation Centre in Alliston with the Pirates finishing the series with a four game sweep over the hometown boys.

It was a total reversal of the same series in 2011 when the Hornets advanced to the final against Grimsby after sweeping Picton in four straight.

Whatever the Pirates were doing it worked – they simply stopped the Hornets from scoring and capitalized on offensive play to get the edge in every game.

The first two periods of Wednesday game were tough to watch for the Alliston fans – especially when the Pirates lit up the board with a short-handed goal at 2:21 into the game to open the scoring.

At the end of the first frame Picton had a three goal lead.

The Hornets notched the only second period goal when Randy Cox took the feed from Mark O’Donnell.

It was the third period where the Hornets really came alive and started playing like the cohesive unit that brought them as far as this series.

A second Alliston goal less than a minute into the third period from David Leblanc brought the squad back into the game.

Brandon Alward tied it up at the 6:01 mark into the frame.

When Cox notched his second of the game to give the Hornets a 4–3 lead, it looked like the Alliston squad would keep the series alive if they could get a an insurance marker.

The lead evaporated when the Pirates scored at the midway mark to tie it up, then got the winner with 3:05 left on the clock to take the game and the series.

The final was 5–4.

“I was proud of my team this year. They went above and beyond for me.” Said Hornets head coach Sandy McCarthy. “It was hard for me to be hard on the guys because we did so well in all these series.”

While the third period rally did give the fans some hope, McCarthy said the entire series may have been different if they started out with that style of play.

“They actually started playing together more (in the third period). If they had done that at the beginning, it would have been a different series – but Picton did deserve to win.”

Alliston forward Randy Cox acknowledged that the teams from the east end put up a tough battle.

“For the past five years they haven’t been the strongest,” he said. “But in the last couple of years – playing Campbellford and Picton – obviously they’re doing something right over there.”

Cox was back in action after sitting out with an injury he sustained back in the Midland / Alliston final series for the GMOHL championship. He played the final two games in the Picton series.

“I was a little rough,” he said of being back on the ice at first. “But after the first two shifts I was back in.”

Cox is now done his Junior career and will be one of the retiring Hornets players this season.

“It has been a great five years. Its been fun. They’ve been good to me and I’ve been good to them,” he said of hanging up his skates – at least at the Junior level.

The Picton Pirates will now go to face the Essex 73’s in the final round to compete for the Provincial title.

The Hornets have won the GMOHL title for six consecutive years and played in the Provincial Schmalz Cup final for five consecutive seasons winning the Provincial championship in 2008 and 2010.

By Brian Lockhart

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