NEWS RELEASE
ORILLIA MINOR HOCKEY ASSOCATION
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The Jim Wilson minor peewee Orillia Terriers battled the Markham Waxers in the York Simcoe semi-finals this past week. In Game 1, Orillia’s Bennett Mackey opened the scoring early in the contest to give the Terriers a one-goal lead. Orillia’s Marcus Petroff and Ethan Telford both scored in the second period to extend the lead to three. That’s all that Orillia needed as they won the game 3-0. Ryker Jacobs was in net for the shutout victory. Assists in the contest went to Tommy Goard, Hunter McLaughlin and Nathan Healy.
In Game 2, Orillia struggled early, getting out-hustled in the game. Markham scored goals in the first and early in the third period to give the Waxers the two-goal lead. Orillia’s Cohen Robitaille scored for the Terriers to cut the lead to one on an assist to Jake Curran. With goalie Connor Sampson out of the net, the Waxers iced the victory with an empty net goal.
In Game 3, Orillia again hosted Markham. With an early power play Nathan Healy potted Orillia’s first goal. Connor Varley capitalized a few minutes later, followed by goals from Marcus Petroff, Devin Fisher, and Tommy Goard. Orillia led 5-1 after two periods of play. Bennett Mackey scored early in the third period to seal the victory 6-1. Jacobs earned the victory in net. Orillia’s assists went to Chase Beiers (2), Varley (2), Hunter McLaughlin (2), Jordan Blunt (2), Mackey (1), Healy (1), Cameron Weishar (1) and Cohen Robitaille (1).
Markham, looking to avoid elimination, fought hard in Game 4, scoring the first goal of the game in the second period of play. Hunter McLaughlin, on an assist from Marcus Petroff, scored in the third period to send the game to overtime. With less than a minute in, Markham sent a puck past Sampson to send the series to Game 5.
In Game 5, in front of a loud home crowd, the Terriers were back on their heels in the opening period. In the middle of the second period, Chase Beiers sent Robitaille in on a break-away and he buried the puck past the Waxer goalie to give Orillia the 1-0 lead heading into the third period. Orillia’s Devin Fisher sent the puck past the defenders again to Robitaille, who, while getting tripped on the break-away, raised the puck over the Waxer goalie to give the Terriers the 2-0 lead. With Orillia up, a penalty put the Waxers on the power play and they capitalized to cut the lead to one. Orillia’s line of Marcus Petroff, Hunter McLaughlin and Connor Varley went out two shifts later and completed the tic-tac-toe passing on Varley’s goal to restore the two-goal lead. Tommy Goard iced the game late in the third period to give the Terriers a 4-1 win and earn a spot in the York Simcoe finals. Jacobs stopped 25 shots in the game for the win.
Orillia will take on King Rebellion in the final round of York-Simcoe playoffs.
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