Junior Hurricanes Men's Hockey: Junior Hurricanes' season ends in overtime

Tuesday, March 5, 2013

Jonny Richards in action during the series

Throughout the season, the Holland College Junior Hurricanes and Montague Maniacs were evenly matched.
The teams had split their 10 games 5-5, with Montague scoring two more goals than the Hurricanes.

It was even tighter in the playoffs, with the series tied 2-2 and each team having scored 17 goals in the series.
It only made sense for the fifth and deciding game of their Island Junior Hockey League series to go to overtime.

However, the Maniacs got a five-minute powerplay early in the extra period, and Montague affiliate player Darcy Nicholson scored the winning goal to give the Maniacs a 6-5 overtime victory on home ice to take the series 3-2 and end the Hurricanes' season.

Kayleb Lazaric scored twice for the Maniacs, while Aaron Fitzpatrick had three assists.

For Holland College, Jonny Richards scored twice and added an assist, while John Livingston had a goal and two assists.

Alex Micalef made 34 saves for the win in net for Montague, while Dustin Stevens made 30 saves for Holland College.

The Hurricanes started the game by pressuring the Maniacs in the attacking end, but a blocked shot (?) allowed Lazaric to go in alone on a breakaway, beating Stevens to give Montague a 1-0 lead just 1:27 in.

Richards and Montague's Peter MacLeod traded goals midway through the period to give the Maniacs a 2-1 lead after 20 minutes.

As has become the custom in this rivalry, the back and forth theme continued in the second period. Each team scored twice, including Richards and Lazaric each scoring their second of the game, to give Montague a 4-3 lead after two period.

The Hurricanes struck quickly in the third period, as Livingston scored his second of the series to tie the game at 4-4 just four minutes into the period, making it the fourth time in the game the Hurricanes tied the score.

Holland College went up midway through the third period, as Blake Ozon scored his team-leading fifth of the playoffs to put the Hurricanes up 5-4 with nine minutes to go.

However, Montague was able to push back as captain Matt Myers tied the game at 5-5 with five minutes to go to force overtime.

Just over a minute into overtime, Livingston was ejected for a hit to the head on Montague's AJ McInnis, who returned to play the next shift.

The ensuing five-minute powerplay saw Nicholson convert at 2:33 to lift the Maniacs into a semifinal matchup with the Kensington Vipers.

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Daniel Cudmore
Athletics Development and Communications Coordinator
Department of Athletics and Recreation
Holland College
(902) 894-6870