There’s a new top dog in the Provincial Junior Hockey League’s Carruthers Division.
The Caledon Golden Hawks stormed back from a 3-1 deficit Sunday to defeat the visiting Orillia Terriers 5-3. The win leapfrogged Caledon past Stayner into first place; the Terriers are in third, just four points behind Caledon, which has played three more games than the Terriers.
It was a tough loss for this year's vastly-improved Terriers, who built a 3-1 first-period lead thanks to goals from Matt Priest, Jake Beard and the team’s leading scorer, Corey Miller.
However, specialty teams were anything but special for Orillia in this game as Caledon scored a power-play goal and a short-handed goal in a dominant second period that saw them out-score the Terriers 4-0 and grab a 5-3 lead. There was no scoring in the final frame.
The visitors outshot the home side 39-34. Orillia netminder Jason Cumbo, who kicked aside 29 shots, took the loss between the pipes.
The loss followed on the heels of an emotional Thursday night game for Orillia in Stayner. Heading into that contest, the two teams, both chasing top spot, were separated by just one point.
In the end, the Siskins managed to earn the extra point with a thrilling 4-3 overtime victory.
Terrier forward Josh Brown scored the lone goal in the opening period, but Stayner tallied a pair less than three minutes apart midway through the middle stanza to take the lead. Noah Mountain knotted the scored and, after 40 minutes, nothing had been settled.
After Stayner re-captured the lead in the third period, Orillia captain Jake Beard potted the equalizer in the back-and-forth contest. However, 3:10 into the extra period, Stayner’s Kyle Challis beat Cumbo to give his team the win.
The Siskins outshot Orillia 49-35 in the well-played contest in Stayner.
Orillia will have a chance for revenge against Caledon Saturday night. The Terriers host the Golden Hawks in a 7:30 p.m. contest at Rotary Place.
The next night, Orillia will clash with Midland in a 7 p.m. game at the Rama MASK.
