Sports

Hornets done for the season after Game Five loss

April 25, 2024   ·   0 Comments

By Brian Lockhart

The Alliston Hornets are finished for the season after taking a 4-1 loss in Game Five of their best-of-seven Conference championship series against the Hanover Barons.

The Hornets finished the regular season as the first-place team in the North Carruthers Division with a 36-6 record.

They went on to eliminate the Innisfil Spartans in four games in the Division quarter-finals before dispatching the Schomberg Cougars in five games in the semi-final round.

They won the Division in a championship series with the Stayner Siskins and won that series in four games.

Moving into the Conference finals the Hornets were up against the Hanover Barons of the Pollock Division. The Barons are a skilled, well-coached team.

The first game of the series on April 12, ended with a 5-1 Hanover win on Alliston home ice.

Game two saw the Barons take a two-game series lead with a 5-0 shut-out on April 13.

Back on home ice in Alliston for game three, the Hornets were back in it with a 2-1 win.

Game four ended with a 3-2 Hanover win and the Hornets had one more chance to win and keep the series alive when the two teams met for game five on Friday, April 19, at the New Tecumseth Recreation Centre.

Alliston’s, Tyler Kelly, opened the scoring early in the second period. It was a short-lived lead when Hanover scored 59 seconds later to tie it up.

Hanover took the lead four minutes later with another goal.

The Barons were leading 3-1 when they scored midway through the period.

The Hornets put out a good effort in the third period, but a final Hanover empty net goal put an end to their season.

“I think the big thing for us, was we got out of the division, but you’ve got to learn how good the other teams are once you get out of your division,” said Hornets GM, Travis Chapman, after the final game. “For us, coming into the series with one game in 11 days, I think we just didn’t start the series when it started – we stared in game three. For everybody it’s a good learning experience how good the other teams are, how committed you have to be to the small details of all the games, and you can’t take a couple of games off an expect to win a series of this level. I have to give them (Hanover) a lot of credit. They are really well coached and committed to what they are doing, and they’re going to give everybody else a real problem as they move forward. We’re happy with the season, but this definitely not where we wanted it to end.”

Hanover will now move on to compete for the provincial Schmaltz Junior C Cup.

Hornets management and coaching staff can relax for a few weeks but it won’t be long before they are back at it and putting the team together for next season.

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