Momentum can be a fickle mistress.
But, right now, momentum must feel like rocket fuel to the Orillia McLean & Dickey Terriers, who suddenly are in the driver’s seat in their second-round playoff series against the Schomberg Cougars.
A little over 12 hours after a heart-stopping double-overtime victory on home ice, the Terriers travelled to Schomberg Sunday afternoon and dominated the home side early before hanging on to a well-earned 7-5 victory over the Cougars.
With the win at the Trisan Centre, Orillia now has a commanding 3-1 series lead with a chance to eliminate Schomberg on home ice at Rotary Place Tuesday night.
The Terriers started fast Sunday, jumping out to a 3-0 first-period advantage thanks to goals from Josh Brown, Austin Holesnki and Noah Mountain.
Riding the momentum, the Terriers scored twice more in the middle frame as Sam Pink and Broderick Black extended Orillia’s lead to 5-0 before Schomberg finally beat Terriers ‘tender Reed Spinola. The Terriers were up 5-1 after 40 minutes.
In the third, Schomberg tried to mount a comeback and certainly made things interesting, but fell short as Orillia prevailed 7-5. Three of the Cougars' goals in the final frame were power-play goals as the Terriers were short-handed for much of the third period.
Noah Sands and Dylan Palomaki (empty net) scored for Orillia in the third period. Lucas Wessinger was Orillia's top playmaker, earning a trio of assists.
For Spinola, it was his first time back in the crease after sitting out a three-game suspension that was levied in the team’s first-round series against Midland.
He stopped 25 of 30 shots in the matinee triumph - including a second-period penalty shot. For Schomberg, Matteo Tarantino allowed five goals on the first 20 shots he faced and was pulled in favour of Tristan Szymanowski, who stopped six of the seven shots he faced in the final frame.
The previous three games were each won by the home team and each game had been decided by a single goal - two of them in overtime. These two teams had identical regular season records and to say they are evenly-matched is an understatement.
Despite that, Orillia, looking to continue to ride that momentum, can win the best-of-seven series Tuesday night. Game time at Rotary Place in west Orillia is 7:30 p.m. If necessary, a fifth game would be played in Schomberg Thursday night.
