Steelheads Sink Playoff Bound Petes
The Petes wrapped up the regular season against the Mississauga Steelheads on Sunday afternoon, in a game whose only consequence was Mississauga’s final position leading into the OHL Priority Selection. With three goals in under ninety seconds in the middle period, Mississauga picked up a 4-2 home win.
The first period was full of action and the scorekeepers were busy tracking shots, but both Dylan Wells and Jacob Brennan were perfect throughout. It was a game of contrasts, as the 16-year old Wells went head-to-head with the 20-year old Brennan, both OHL rookies.
Although neither team generated much in the way of high quality opportunities, the goalies impressed turning aside twelve Mississauga and nineteen Peterborough shots in a scoreless opening twenty, respectively.
The second period was of equal pace, but the scoring picked up significantly after the intermission. Josh Coyle got things started on the penalty kill as he split the D and found Josh Maguire for a tap-in to make it 1-0.
The Steelheads responded by putting Wells through the worst 1:12 of his career. Mississauga scored three times at the mid-way mark of the second, with tallies from Damian Bourne(Bryson Cianfrone and Brandon Devlin), Mike McLeod (Devlin) and Everett Clark (Cody Thompson and Bobby MacIntyre).
With the score now 3-1 for the home team, Jody Hull called a timeout that worked like a charm. Just after the break, Steve Lorentz broke into the zone and ripped a shot over Brennan’s shoulder from Coyle and Matt Timms to cut the new Steelheads lead in half.
The keepers settled things down in the final minutes of the period, and the Steelheads held their 3-2 lead as the second stanza buzzer rang. Peterborough held a 34-29 shot lead after forty minutes.
The third period was slower than the previous two, but fans were treated to a battle nonetheless. After a good start by the Petes offensively, it was Mississauga’s McLeod who found the back of the net for the second time on the afternoon, this time from Sean Day and Jared Walsh on the powerplay at the 10:27 mark.
Mississauga’s mark was the final goal of the afternoon as the Steelheads moved from 19th to 17th in the OHL standings with a 4-2 win. The final shots on goal were 41-39 for the Petes. McLeod, Brennan, and Devlin were the first, second, and third stars of the game, respectively.
The post-season gets underway on Friday and Sunday on the road before the Petes host the rival Oshawa Generals on Tuesday, May 31. Playoff tickets are now on sale at the Collins Barrow Box Office here while supplies last, and don’t forget to follow the Petes on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and YouTube.
