Sports

Hornets win semi-final in four-game sweep over Penetang

March 20, 2025   ·   0 Comments

By Brian Lockhart

The Alliston Hornets eliminated the Penetang Kings in their best-of-seven semi-final playoff series with a four-game sweep. The Hornets will now compete for the North Carruthers Division championship against the Orillia Terriers. 

The Alliston team has won eight playoff games in a row, first knocking the Muskoka Bears out of competition in four games in their quarter-final round series.

The semi-final against Penetang got underway on Friday, March 7, on Alliston home ice. Game One ended with a 3-2 Alliston win.

Moving to Penetang for Game Two on Monday, March 10, the Hornets scored six goals over three periods before the Kings managed to get on the scoreboard in the third period.

Alliston goals came from Cole Turcotte in the first period, Mark Coish and Will Millington in the second followed by two from Nick Lamont.

Duncan Grube got the lone third-period Hornets goal for a 6-1 win.

A large crowd turned out for Game Three at the New Tecumseth Recreation Centre on Wednesday, March 12. With schools out for March Break, a lot of younger fans were in the stands.

The Hornets were leading 5-0 at the end of the second period.

Penetang avoided the shut-out after scoring two goals, four minutes apart in the third period.

Cole Turcotte banged in the final Alliston goal with 2:08 left on the clock to give the Hornets a 7-2 win.

Game Four got underway in Penetang on Friday, March 14.

The Hornets were determined to end the series and started off by scoring three goals in the first period.

Duncan Grube got the game opener followed by two from Cam Lamont.

Jax Bellwood scored early in the second period to make it a 3-0 game.

The Kings got on the scoreboard with two quick goals just 1:29 apart in the second.

Bellwood got his second of the night just three minutes after his first goal.

Cole Turcotte scored the final goal of the series late in the period to give the Hornets a 6-2 win to end the best-of-seven match-up.

“Game Two and Three were much better than game one,” said Hornets coach Jacob Bauchman after the win in game three. “We had 12 games off between the last Muskoka game and game one of this series. We were knocking a bit of rust off in game one of this series. We won 3-2, but we were rusty. I think we’ve shaken off the rust and we were much better in Game Two and Three – our intensity level was much higher. Tonight, out of the 60 minutes, we were probably happy with 50 minutes. We fell asleep for about 10 minutes and they got a goal.”

The first-place Hornets will now face the second-place Orillia Terriers for the North Carruthers Division championship in what should be an epic battle between two strong teams.

The Terriers won their semi-final series over the Stayner Siskins in a series that went five games.

That series wrapped up on Saturday, March 14, with a 9-3 win for Orillia on home ice.

The schedule for the championship series had not been announced at press time.

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