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HomeMy WebLinkAboutTimes Advocate, 1991-03-27, Page 18Page 18 Times -Advocate, March 27, 1991 Series pushed to seven game limit Mohawks eliminate Aylmer, face Point Edward By Fred Groves EXETER - Two goals. That's all that separated the Exet- er Mohawks and the Aylmer Hor- nets. Saturday night in front of a ca- pacity crowd at the South Huron Recreation Centre, the Mohawks held on to an early lead to beat the Hornets 7-5 and successfully de- fend their Southern Counties Sen- ior 'A' Hockey League tide. Thursday the Mohawks open their next series against the very tough Point Edward Champs. Game time is 8 p.m. in Point Ed- ward then back to Exeter on Satur- day at 8 p.m. It took the Mohawks all seven games to beat the Hornets, and the home ice advantage was the differ- ence. "We play better on a bigger sur- face. We played them 11 times and won every game but one at home," said Exeter coach Dave Revington. Coming into the final game, Ex- eter had trouble scoring on Aylmer goalie Gilles Lauziere. He played every minute of every playoff game and was just a little slower in Saturday's game. "I guess I wasn't making the big saves I did earlier in the series," said Lauziere. He turned away 35 shots in the last game but admitted the tough series caught up to him. "The last three games in three nights has been a real grind," he said. Saturday night, the Mohawks struck very early as captain Jeff Shipley scored less than two min- utes into the game when he knocked in a Richard Hawkins shot. But a mix up at mid ice allowed the Hornets' Peter McMenemy to put his team back into it. Aylmer took a one -goal lead when Mike Teeple bounced one off of Exeter goal Rick Pikul. Midway through the period, Tim Shields teamed with Taro Kaibara and with Tess than two minutes to go, Kevin McCarter backhanded one into the net from 12 feet out. In the second, Greg Snyder slid one across the ice to put Exeter up 4-2. Aylmer fought back again as Tim Horvat was left alone in front of the net. Exeter turned on the pressure as Kaibara, who had four points on the night, scored in the second period and again in the third. He was on a makeup line with Shieds and Dale Gibbon. It was the first time in the series the trio had teamed up. "(Tim) Frtii s line has been doing almost 50 percent of our scoring in the playoffs. Billy's (Glover) line has had the opportunities but they haven't been able to put the puck in the net. We had to get the offence from somewhere," said Revington. Midway through the third, Exeter was given a bench minor and Aylm- er's Pete McLeod cashed in. Mike Haines added one more for the visitors and Exeter's Kris Bed- ard fired one down the ice into the empty net with two seconds left. Aylmer coach Ted Kidder said the reason the Mohawks won the in- tense series was because they had more depth. "I think we were tired, too many games. They had more depth than we did. On the forward lines we were just as good as they were, maybe a little better. Their defence was better than ours." Kidder, who gave a great deal of credit to the enure Exeter organiza- tion, said the Mohawks are a classy operation. "I'm disappointed we didn't win but it was an enjoyable series to be part of." Although he did not figure in the scoring, Exeter centre Tim Fritz who teamed with McCarter to lead the offence throughout the playoffs, is looking forward to a little rest. "It's going to be nice to have two or three nights off," he said. The Mohawks won't play again until Thursday. He was pleased with his efforts against Aylmer. "The puck was definetly bouncing our way, Kevin and I try to go to the net." Fritz and McCarter certainly did that as they combined for 30 playoff points. 1 Game Six 1 Exeter got on the board first in game six Friday night in Aylmer, but their opening period goal would be the only one they scored as the Hornets won 3-1 in overtime. McCarter dug the puck out of the corner and got it to Joe Scherer who was left alone in front of the net. But Lauziere was without flaw the rest of the game. The Mohawks had a chance to put the game out of reach as Scherer hit the post and Glover couldn't con- nect on his breakaway attempt. Ex- eter's offence continued to get fired up in the second but Andre Prevost was stopped by Lauziere's big pad and Glover missed a backhander. Aylmer finally got on the board late in the second when Haines scored over Bill Dark's extended right leg. Bedard attempted to break the tie with 10 seconds left in the pe- riod when he split the defence and shot just wide of the net. The game went into overtime and midway through the 10 -minute peri- od, Rob Coutts was near the boards and shot at a tough angle that beat Dark. Peter McMenemy scored into the empty net. Game Fiveltield The line of Scherer, McCarter and Fritz combined for all three Exeter Congratulations - Aylmer coach Ted Kidder, left; congratulates Dave Revington for a job well done. Good try - Exeter's Bill Glover tried to get past the outstretched glove of Aylmer netminder Gilles Lauziere in the second period of Thursday night's game at the South Huron Recreation Centre but Lauziere was the winner in this battle. Junior 'D' series tied 2-2 goals as the Mohawks won game five, 3-2 Thursday night at the South Huron Recreation Centre. Aylmer opened the scoring on a shorthanded goal. With three min- utes left in the period, Dark chased a puck which bounced off the boards behind him. Tepple wandered into the Exeter zone and popped in past a diving Dark. There was no other scoring in the first period but the Mohawks did have their chances. Bedard let one go from the point and Gibbon just missed putting it into the open net. Exeter had a couple of good pow- erplay chances but either couldn't score or quickly found their way into the box as well. Aylmer's Dustin Bellyou was tak- en to the hospital after he tried to check Gord Brooks. The two collid- ed and Bellyou's helmet came down and cut his nose. He was later taken to the hospital. The Mohawks most productive line of the playoffs started to click in the middle frame as Scherer took a pass from Barry Baynham, carried it in and got it to McCarter in front of the net. With 35 seconds left in the peri- od, Scherer was deep in a corner, turned around and passed it to McCarter who was again, in front of the net. Fritz also assisted. In the third period, the Mohawks came very close to making it 3-1 as Gibbon blasted one and Shields was right there to gobble up the re- bound-but e- boundbut Lauzieie made the big save. Exeter got its third goal on a con- troversial effort. A scramble in the goalmouth resulted in the puck bouncing off of Fritz's skate, onto his stick and then in. Referee Steve Wiffen waved the goal off saying Fritz kicked it in, but a linesman overruled the decision. Wiffen made a trip back to the of- ficials' room in the third period to check Brooks' stick but it was le- gal, even after Wiffen measured it in front of Kidder. With 23 seconds left in the game, Coutts came in and let go with a hard shot from the top of the circle which Dark didn't have a chance on. Game Four Last Tuesday in Aylmer, the vis- iting Mohawks had a 2-0 first peri- od lead on goals by McCarter and Gibbon. But the Hornets fought back and with 25 seconds left in the opening period Bob Hunter scored. Snyder returned to the Mohawks lineup and got one in the second but it was 3-3 after 40 minutes as Haines and Brian Donaldson an- swered for Aylmer. The Hornets kept the Mohawks off the board in the third and netted two of their own by McMenemy and Donaldson got his second. Shipley and Paul Barton were in- jured during the game and did not suit up for game five. Irish having their problems with Lancers By Fred Groves LAMBETH - The Lucan Irish sure must be firm believers now that you can't take any team too lightly. Here Sunday night, they lost their best -of -seven Western Junior 'D' Hockey League west division semi-final series game 4-2 to the Lancers. Saturday night in Lucan, the Irish fell behind but battled back to win 6-3. Wednesday in Lambeth, the Irish hung on to win a close 5- 4 decision. The series is now tied and the winner will advance to face either Port Stanley Lakers or the Exeter Hawks for the division champion- ship. The Hawks had a chance to wrap that up last night in Port Stan- ley. During the regular season, the Irish finished in first place with a 30-6-4 record while the Lancers were fourth at 19-19-2. In the Three Lucan teams advance opening round of the playoffs, Lu - can disposed of Mt. Brydges in four straight while Lambeth took five games to eliminate Belmont. Lambeth took a 1-0 lead late in the first period when John Blokker unloaded with a shot from the top of the circle for a powerplay goal. "It was a good game. Through- out the season we've played our best games against these guys," said Lakers' coach Randy McIntyre. The home team could have taken a biggerlead but Lucan goalie Dan Jenken made a glove save on Gord Ross and stopped Glen Marshall cold on a breakaway attempt. Lucan was flat all game and the Lancers took advantage of it. Just 54 seconds into the middle period, Irish defenceman Todd Hayter couldn't clear the puck and Tom Walker capitalized on the chance. Three minutes later Scou Walker whipped around the net and hit War- ren Smith with a pass in front of the net. Irish coach Ken Needham, rather disgruntled after the game, is very surprised at the way his team is playing. "If I knew what it was, I could LANGTON - Three teams from Licari have advanced to the Ontario Minor hockey Associhtion'DIY finals. The atoms, bantams and midgets have all gained berths in the provin- cial championship series. Wednesday in Langton, Ryan Carroll had two goals to pace the at• oms to a 6-5 win over the hosts, Corey Sinitic Jeremy Cornish, Pat Onlin and Ryan Thomas also scored. Assisting were Conlin, ('ornish, Scott Thompson and Chad Gtrcnlee. Lucent the defending provincial champs, now take on Beaverton. Fri- day they open in L.ucan At 2 p,m. followed by back-to-back games in 13eavcnon on Saturday and Sunday. Meanwhile the Lucan midgets will take on Godfrey in their six print series. Game one is Sunday in Lucan at 5 p.m. and then the, following day again in Lucan at noon. It took overtime to do it but the bantams eliminated Langton with a 7-6 score in the final game on Friday, Roh•Paul scored two goals and set up another while Collin Kowal- chuk also netted a pair. Steve Dame, Doug I lotson and Brian licc:kman also scored. Chris tlaskett WAS the big set up man with three while Shaun Fairweather and.Matt Munro each had two assists. Ifotson scored the tieing goal late in the third period and with 44 sec - ands left in the overtime, Heckinari got the winner; Wednesday in Langton, Fairweather scored three goals including two in the final period as Lucan won 9-6 in a come -from -behind perfor- mance, Trailing 6-4 at the end of the second period, l.ucan received four assists from Paul and three from lieckrnnn. Loran bantams start their provin_:a1 final series against Stroud on Friday at home at 3:30 p.in. and then head to Stroud on Sunday. Can't score - Darren Neil, left and the Lucan Irish sure had their troubles scoring against Lambeth Sun - ' day night. wake them up," said Needham. At the start of the third period he tried to wake up the whole team. "I started the third period with five defencemen on the ice to see what would happen." In the long run, something did happen. The Irish came to life and scored back-to-back goals less than a min- ute apart. Jamie Pearce started the comeback when he took advantage of a Lamb- eth tripping penalty to Scott Wiacek and cashed in with a fairly harmless looking shot. But Lambeth goalie Jay Davidson couldn't hang on and the Irish were on the board. Forty-five seconds later Jon McEachren walked in and fired it high, ripping the mesh behind Dav- idson. "They got that first goal and you saw them pick right up. They're ca- pable of doin? that," said McIntyre. Lucan continued to apply the pres- sure but a controversial goal let the wind out of their sails. With 3:03 left in the game, Wia- cek scored on the powerplay. But Jenken was knocked over bringing screams of protest from the Lucan bench. Referee Mike Arts said Lu - can defenceman Brad Bowers had pushed the Lakers' player into Jenk- en. After the game. Lucan captain Brian Schuyler says the series shouldn't be tied. "Tc way we've been playing, they should be ahead of us. We played a lot better against Mt. Brydges," said Schuyler. We get down a goal and we get down on each other," he added. *011