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Hornets wrap up quarter-final series with Huntsville

February 21, 2020   ·   0 Comments

The Alliston Hornets will move on to the semi-final round of the Carruthers Division championship after they eliminated the Huntsville Otters in a four-game sweep in their quarter-final series.

The end for Huntsville came on Sunday, February 16, when the Hornets delivered a 7 – 4 win in Game Four on Huntsville home ice.

The series got underway on February 7, with Alliston hammering Huntsville 7 – 0 in the opener at the New Tecumseth Recreation Centre.

It was a little tighter in Game Two, but the Hornets left with a 3 – 2 win to lead the series 2 – 0.

The return to Alliston home ice on Friday, February 14, got off to a rocky start for the Hornets when Huntsville scored three goals by the 6:40 mark in the first period including two powerplay goals.

Alliston closed the gap with two goals from Mitch Livingston on a powerplay and a second marker from Keegan Gllis-McAnulty.

After a scoreless second period, it was a tie game when Caden Maher scored on a powerplay just 55 seconds into the third.

Alliston forward Adam Hoppe got the tie breaker at the 3:05 mark and the Hornets held the lead for a 4 – 3 to remain in control of the series.

“It was a rough start. We let a couple in to start,” Hoppe said after the game. “We bounced back in the second and third. The coaches and the players, we got ourselves going. Sometimes all you need is a couple of whacks.”

The winning goal, Hoppe said, was part of the team’s strategy.

“We have a whole bunch of set plays right off the face-off. The boys did their jobs, did their routes, and the puck went to the net. Luckily I got a stick on it and we had the lead from there.”

The team’s plan was to wrap up the series in Game Four on Sunday.

“The boys need lots of rest, lots of water, lots of food, lots of protein over the weekend and hopefully we’ll take it to them. I think we know what can happen when we get off to a rough start. We can flush that and move on.”

In Game Four, the Otters again got the early goal scoring at 2:17 into the game.

They were ahead 2 – 0 late in the period.

Brandon Smyth got the Hornets first goal.

Alliston tied it up on goal from Ben Beausaert on a powerplay, then went ahead on goals from Ryan Sallows and Didier Koenigs.

The Otters tied the game in the third period, but Hornets were back in when they responded with three of their own.

Third period goals came from Caden Maher, Keegan Gillis-McAnulty, and Adam Hoppe.

The Hornets will get a week off while waiting for other quarter-final series in the Division to play out and see who they will be up against in the semi-final series.

By Brian Lockhart

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