2015 OHL Cup Day 3 Recap
Thursday March 19, 2015
The 2015 OHL Cup Showcase Tournament hosted by the Greater Toronto Hockey League continued on Thursday with eight round-robin games at Buckingham Arena in Toronto. Here’s a look at the action.
Game 28: Suzuki takes over as Jr. Knights stay undefeated
London Jr. Knights 4, Elite Hockey Group 1
The London Jr. Knights come out of Wednesday’s action at the OHL Cup as one of four undefeated teams after a 4-1 victory over Elite Hockey Group to improve to 3-0.
ALLIANCE regular season leading scorer Nicholas Suzuki took over for London in the third, beating multiple light jerseys to bury a pair of nice goals after Ryan Martin and Isaac Ratcliffe provided the other two markers.
“We’ve had solid goaltending and our defence are playing great,” Suzuki noted after the game. “The Championship loss to Waterloo in the playoffs was tough for us. This group here had won every ALLIANCE Championship going back to Major Atom, so losing wasn’t something we were used to. We’re out to prove something here at the OHL Cup and want to show everyone what we’re capable of.”
Elite Hockey Group got a lone goal from Travis Yawger in the loss as they fall to 0-3 in the tournament.
The Jr. Knights look to maintain their perfect pace on Friday against the Toronto Titans at 5:15pm.
Jr. Knights MVP – Nicholas Suzuki (2G)
Elite Hockey Group MVP – Anthony DeMeo
Game 27: Sparkes and Benjamin lift Wolves over Thunder
Waterloo Wolves 4, TPH Thunder 1
Linemates Noah Benjamin and Sullivan Sparkes registered three points each to lead the Waterloo Wolves to a 4-1 win over the TPH Thunder.
The Wolves went 2-for-3 on the powerplay as Sparkes opened the scoring on the man advantage at 8:42 of the opening frame.
Benjamin lit the lamp just 15 seconds into the second period with an assist from Sparkes to give Waterloo a 2-0 lead. The 6’1″, 210Ib Benjamin scored again at 10:15 to give his club a 3-0 cushion heading to the third.
Jordan White rounded out the scoring for Waterloo while Colby Pederson responded for TPH has Waterloo put won their second straight game to put an opening game loss at the hands of the North Central Predators in the rearview mirror.
“We’re a club that draws a lot of our success from outworking our opponent,” Waterloo’s regular season and playoff scoring leader Sullivan Sparkes said post-game.
The Wolves are now 2-1 in the round-robin, but face a considerable test in the Don Mills Flyers on Friday.
“We’ve gotten our feet back under us in these second and third games,” Sparkes continued. “If we work hard and play within our system and structure we can skate with any team in this tournament.”
Wolves MVP – Noah Benjamin (2G, 1A)
Thunder MVP – Colby Pederson (1G)
Game 26: Deakin-Poot scores twice for Hurricanes in victory
Halton Hurricanes 3, Team NOHA 1
There was no shortage of physicality between the Halton Hurricanes and Team NOHA on Wednesday afternoon. Both teams threw the body and employed a hard forecheck as they each searched for their first win of the tournament.
The Halton Hurricanes would prevail behind two goals from big centreman Nick Deakin-Poot and a third from Dante Sheriff, defeating their opponents from the north 3-1.
“It’s been frustrating coming into this one with two losses,” said Hurricanes coach Andrew Dias. “Our big guys came to play today though and got the guys fired up for another big one tomorrow against Mississauga.”
Now 1-2 in the tournament, Dias says some of Halton’s setbacks have been injury related. “We’ve had some guys banged up,” he continued. “The guys are overcoming it which is good. Hopefully they can come out strong on Friday and get us a much needed win.”
Hurricanes MVP – Nick Deakin-Poot (2G)
NOHA MVP – Felix Cote
Game 25: Express blank Titans 3-0
York-Simcoe Express 3, Ottawa Valley Titans 0
Goals from Aidan Brown, William Sirman and Jonathan Malowney led the York-Simcoe Express to a 3-0 shutout win over the Ottawa Valley Titans.
York-Simcoe goaltender James Elmhirst stood tall, making some nice saves while the defence corps in front of him cleared pucks out of danger and played the body in a win over the OEMHL Champions.
After a 6-3 win over the Elgin-Middlesex Chiefs on Tuesday night that left something to be desired, York-Simcoe coach Michael De Pellegrin said Wednesday’s effort was closer to the typical brand of Express hockey.
“I wouldn’t say we’re quite there, but it’s an improvement,” he said. “I thought we were quicker today and a lot more physical. We wanted this one and I think it showed.”
Power forward Aidan Brown got the Express on the board with 53 seconds left in the first period with assists from Robert Thomas and Quintin Wheeler. William Sirman found the back of the net in the second with help from Wheeler and Conor Smart and Malowney rounded out the scoring with a helper from Marshall Waters.
The Express improve to 2-1 in the tournament while the Titans are now 1-2 with one of their losses coming in overtime.
Express MVP – William Sirman
Titans MVP – Kyle Lefebvre
Game 24: Jr. Rangers and Chiefs rekindle playoff rivalry
Kitchener Jr. Rangers 5, Elgin-Middlesex Chiefs 1
The Kitchener Jr. Rangers gained entry to the 2015 OHL Cup by defeating the Elgin-Middlesex Chiefs in the ALLIANCE Wild Card Series. The Chiefs got another crack at their nemesis to the east on Wednesday, but couldn’t hold off a determined Rangers attack in a 5-1 contest.
Tyler Dam, Jason Willms and Andrew McIntyre all had multi-point efforts for the Rangers who went 3-for-5 on the man advantage to win their first game of the tournament.
“It was a tough loss to Ottawa Valley yesterday,” said Kitchener captain Jason Willms. “We shook it off though, kept it simple, and had a strong effort today.”
The Jr. Rangers have rode the big trio of Owen Lane, Jason Willms and Andrew McIntyre to a lot of their success this season, but Willms was quick to credit some of the other bodies in the lineup for the win on Wednesday.
“We have some real good secondary guys here that grind it out,” he said. “Keenan Dawdy has had a great tournament so far and we’ve had a couple strong efforts from Tyler Dam on defence as well.”
The Rangers got out to a 4-0 lead and never looked back, handing Elgin-Middlesex their second loss of the tournament.
Jr. Rangers MVP – Keenan Dawdy
Chiefs MVP – Caleb Adrian
Game 23: Jr. 67’s remain perfect in win over Reps
Ottawa Jr. 67’s 6, Mississauga Reps 1
Ottawa Jr. 67’s captain Greg Meireles entered Day 3 of the OHL Cup leading the tournament in scoring, and continued to produce on Wednesday morning in a 6-1 win over the Mississauga Reps.
Meireles had a goal and two assists, joining blueliner Jacob Paquette on the attack. The big 6’2″, 195Ib rearguard steered Ottawa to victory with a goal and two assists of his own.
The Reps looked as if they’d continue their Cinderella start to the tournament when Nicholas Isaacson opened the scoring at 12:08 with assists from Devlin Shanahan and Paul Violo. The Jr. 67’s weren’t about to go the way of the Toronto Marlboros on Wednesday though, who suffered a 1-0 shutout loss at the hands of goaltender Andrew Gabriele and the Reps.
Ottawa exploded for six unanswered goals in the latter half of the game, taking full advantage of Mississauga’s discipline issues by going 3-for-8 on the man advantage.
Jacob Paquette and Matthew Mullin scored 1:09 apart to close out the second period before Meireles, Ethan Rendell-Watson and Thomas Stevenson joined Paquette in scoring his second of the game in the third.
“We had a chance to reset ourselves after losing the OEMHL Championship,” said Greg Meireles after the win. “We’ve been able to calm down and just focus on our job here at the OHL Cup. Winning our first three games here has been great, but there is still a lot of work to do.”
The highly touted two-way forward increased his tournament scoring lead to nine points, with a total of three goals and six assists in three contests.
“I’ve been fortunate to play with some great linemates in Nick McHugh and Sam Paquette,” Meireles added. “We all compliment each other well and have formed some great chemistry together.”
Jr. 67’s MVP – Matthew Mullin (1G)
Reps MVP – Nicholas Aromatario
Game 22: Rangers skate to first victory over Predators
Oakville Rangers 4, North Central Predators 3
The North Central Predators took a gamble, one that didn’t work out.
Looking for the regulation win, the Preds pulled goaltender Curtis Hanspiker as they applied some offensive pressure in the final minute of the third period. Oakville Rangers forward Cameron McLean got a hold of a loose puck in the neutral zone though, burying the winner into an empty net with 22 seconds to spare.
“We’ll take a win any way we can get it,” said Oakville coach Tom Daley after his club’s first win of the tournament. “We haven’t really played like a team so far through the first two games, but I felt our guys were deserving of the win in this one after they played so hard.”
The Oakville win is the second meeting between the two clubs in the last week after they battled to a 1-1 tie at the OMHA Championships in Belleville last Friday.
Oakville captain Jack Ricketts led the way with a hat-trick, scoring two of his three goals shorthanded. The Rangers overcame a 3-1 deficit to charge back in the third for a 4-3 win.
Kyle Heitzner had two goals in the losing cause for North Central as they see their record drop to 1-2.
“We’ve still got some hope moving forward here,” Rangers coach Tom Daley concluded. “We need some other things to happen for us, but we can still overcome what was a rough opening day for us here.”
Rangers MVP – Jack Ricketts (3G)
Predators MVP – Kyle Heitzner (2G)
Game 21: Quinte holds off Thunder Bay for 5-4 win
Quinte Red Devils 5, Thunder Bay Kings 4
The Quinte Red Devils got the win on the scoreboard, but it was a little closer than they’d hoped. Up 4-1 early in the third, the Red Devils saw the Thunder Bay Kings rally for some late goals but managed to hang on for a 5-4 victory to start Day 3 of OHL Cup action on Thursday.
“I think we panicked a little bit and got away from our brand of hockey,” said Quinte Head Coach Patrick Shearer. “We started making long stretch passes and turning pucks over instead of supporting the puck the way we do when we’re on top of our game.”
Quinte’s Nick Hoey and Thunder Bay’s Baldino Aiello swapped first period goals before Hoey struck again in the second for his third goal of the tournament.
“Nick Hoey has come up big several times for us this season,” said Shearer. “He got us a big goal in last weekend’s OMHA Gold Medal game and is a real big part of our club.”
After Colin Vandenhurk stepped into a bomb from the point to put Quinte up 3-1 to end the second, Red Devils shooter Aidan McFarland tallied 10 seconds into the third to give his club what seemed to be a fairly secure 4-1 cushion.
Eli Loon-Stewardson chipped away a little bit of that security when he came down the wing and put a puck literally through the net to cut the Quinte lead down to two goals. Kings blueline Alex Peterson ripped a slapshot over the soulder of Anthony Bertucca on the powerplay at 12:24 to make the score 4-3.
After McFarland hit the empty net for his third of the tournament, the Kings clawed back again as Hunter Buzzi cleaned up the garbage in the goalmouth with 15 seconds left.
The Thunder Bay comeback was too little, too late though as the Red Devils improved to 2-1 in the tournament.
“We need to learn from what happened in this game,” Red Devils coach Shearer condluded. “Maybe it’ll be a good thing. Maybe a wake up call was just what we needed.”
Red Devils MVP – Aidan McFarland (2G)
Kings MVP – Baldino Aiello (1G)
Round-robin action concludes on Friday with 12 games on the schedule beginning at 8:00 am. Quarter-Final and Semi-Final action takes place on Saturday at Buckingham Arena before Monday’s Championship Final shifts to Mattamy Athletic Centre for a 7:30 pm matchup live on Sportsnet ONE.
For more information including schedule, rosters, and stats please visit www.ohlcup.ca.
Recaps by Josh Sweetland/OHL
