After suffering a 6-4 loss to the Stayner Siskins on Tuesday evening, the McLean & Dickey Orillia Terriers are on the brink of elimination.
Game 4 of the best-of-seven Provincial Junior Hockey League (PJHL) playoff series brought 442 Jr. C fans from Orillia and Stayner to Rotary Place last night. It was an almost equally divided crowd and the second largest this season at the west Orillia arena.
The Terriers were mauled in the first period as Stayner dominated the opening frame.
The visiting Siskins jumped on to the scoreboard just over one minute in when forward Caleb Tiffin-Seminara collected an attacking zone face-off and walked it to the point where he let a shot fly past Terriers’ goalie Aidan Jerry.
Seconds later, the Terriers found themselves in penalty trouble, sending two of their top forwards to the box for tripping. The Siskins capitalized on the five-on-three opportunity when Tiffin-Seminara pounced on a rebound for his second of the night on the power play.
The Terriers showed signs of life three minutes later when forward Brady McLaren won a battle in front of the net to bang home a rebound off a shot from forward Devon Edmonds.
"I just kind of tapped it in," McLaren said. "It put a serious jump in our step, and I thought we were going to make a comeback."
After killing off two more penalties late in the first period, the Terriers lacked energy and fell victim to two more Siskins goals, pushing the deficit to 4-1. The Terriers were outshot 17-6 in the opening frame.
Jerry says it was hard to regroup after letting by four goals in the opening frame.
"I think they wanted it a little more tonight," Jerry said. "It was going to be the first period that set the tone and credit to them for playing a much better game."
He said the first period was disappointing.
"Coming into this game I felt like there was a spark in our room," he said. "It's a tough pill to swallow being in a position where we are fighting for our season."
The Terriers battled hard in the second period, outshooting the Siskins 15-7 while benefiting from five power plays.
"We kept believing all the way through," McLaren said. "I'm proud of how we battled."
Six minutes into the middle frame, McLaren fed a pass from behind the net to forward Noah Mountain in front who beat Siskins' goalie Matteo Gennaro who failed to slide post to post to make the save.
"I was just waiting back door and Brady kind of just shot it through," Mountain recalled. "I was able to grab it and the goalie didn't really have time to slide over before I put it in the net."
Mountain, who is set to age out of the PJHL at the end of the season, says the goal gave his squad some much-needed momentum.
"We had a really good second period," he said. "That got our spirits up and we made a good push near the end. Unfortunately, we just couldn't get it done."
The Terriers got off to a near-perfect start to the third period when Edmonds scored on a chance in tight just under five minutes in, to close the gap to 4-3.
However, the Terriers would give up an almost mirrored chance at their end of the ice 26 seconds later. Tiffin-Seminara's hat trick goal was a backbreaker, restoring his team's two-goal lead.
The Terriers made a late push and ultimately out shot their opponents 35-34 in the game. However, Siskins' forward Kylar Watson scored the dagger with under 10 minutes to go, putting the game out of reach despite Terriers' forward Mason Beck later scoring on a penalty shot opportunity.
In what is one of the most bizarre twists of fate, the Terriers and Siskins will now resume Game 3 on Thursday night. Game 3 ended in controversy when a Terriers' game-winning goal in overtime was waved off; the official said the net was off its morrings when the puck crossed the line.
However, the official penalized the Stayner netminder for delay of game for knocking the net off. The Siskins killed off the penalty and scored late in the OT to earn a 1-0 win.
The win was nullifed after the Terriers protested the result as rules stipulate a penalty shot should be called if a net is intentionally knocked off in overtime. The protest was successful, so Game 3 will resume Thursday night with a penalty shot attempt for the Terriers. If they score, the Terriers will win Game 3. If they don't score, the overtime period will begin from where the Terrier's controversial goal was called back on Sunday afternoon with 7:26 left to play.
If the Terriers win, they will then immediately play Game 5 in Stayner. If necessary, a Game 6 would be played in Orillia Saturday night.
"Hopefully, we can earn ourselves another chance," Mountain said. "We still believe that we can come back and I think we can do it."
