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Hornets claim North Conference title with win over Mount Forest

April 5, 2019   ·   0 Comments

By Brian Lockhart

The Alliston Hornets claimed the Provincial Junior Hockey League North Conference championship on Friday night, March 29, with an overtime win in Game Six of their best-of-seven series with the Mount Forest Patriots.

Alliston forward Joey Visconti got the winning goal at 13:28 into the OT period.

The series got underway on March 20, with Mount Forest taking a 4-3 win in Game One of the series.

The series was tied with a 3-1 Alliston win on home ice on March 22.

Mount Forest moved into the lead on March 23, with a 5-3 lead on their home ice.

Returning to Alliston for Game Four, it was another home ice win when the Hornets came out on top 4-1 at the New Tecumseth Recreation Centre.

A 5-1 Alliston win in Mount Forest on March 28, gave the Hornets home ice advantage for Game Six of the series and the chance to win it all on in front of a hometown crowd.

After playing to a 1-1 tie in the first frame, Mount Forest took the lead with the only second period goal.

Alliston’s Ben Beausaert got the tie goal at 6:03 into the third period to make it an all out battle for the remaining 14 minutes to see which team could get ahead.

With neither team able to score they returned for the overtime period.

Visconti’s OT goal won the game and claimed the series.

“I think they (Mount Forest) are a really hard-working team who know who they are and what they need to do to win,” said Hornets coach Travis Chapman after Friday’s win. “They compete the entire game. They push you to go to the next level. They were well coached, they were disciplined, the really deserved another game out of this. We got better and better as the game went on.”

The Hornets played a decent, but not great first period, but seemed to turn it up a notch in the second frame.

“It’s hard to put a team away, especially a team like this,” Chapman said. “Everyone we play from now on is a league champion so they all know how to win. Twice in the series we were down by a game – everybody knows how to win and what it takes to win. We got into a rhythm. Some of our depth guys and our younger guys gave us a boost with the energy and work ethic that they brought to the game. We’ve got to do what makes us successful. At the end of the day, the team that wins is the team that plays their style more than the other time.”

The Hornets will now face the Napanee Raiders in the semi-final series for the provincial Schmalz Cup championship.

The Raiders knocked out the Uxbridge Bruins in four games to win the East Conference championship on March 27.

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