The McLean & Dickey Orillia Terriers are moving on to the second round of the Provincial Junior Hockey League playoffs after defeating Midland 7-4 on Wednesday night, completing a four-game sweep of the Flyers.
As the Terriers go deeper in the playoffs, the Rotary Place crowd continues to grow. A March Break crowd of 271 local hockey fans was in attendance for the series-clinching win.
The Terriers roared out of the gate, outshooting their opponents 29-7 in the first period. Forward Sam Pink opened the scoring for the Terriers two minutes into the opening frame for his fourth of the playoffs. Then, under six minutes later, forward Noah Mountain would slide one past Flyers goaltender Stevie Brown to put the Terriers up 2-0.
Forward Dylan Palomaki would add his fourth of the playoffs later in the period to give the Terriers a 3-1 lead going into the locker room.
In the second period, Terriers regular-season scoring leader Josh Brown finally got on the playoff scoring board by twisting his way through Flyers defenders and netting his first goal of the postseason.
“I had a lot of chances in the first three games,” he said. “The bounces just weren’t going my way.”
Brown says the goal will give him a boost of confidence going into the second round.
“I was snake-bitten in the first three games,” the forward said. “I wanted to finish strong tonight, get this one over with, and start focusing on the next one.”
After forward Kaiden Robitaille added his first tally of the playoffs, Mountain scored his second of the game and his third of the playoffs to put the Terriers up 6-2 going into the second intermission. Mountain also had two assists in a four-point night.
“My line came to play, and we stepped it up all series,” he said. “It feels good to get the sweep tonight.”
The Flyers opened the third period by scoring three quick goals, but the Terriers used a time-out to slow down the pace and regain momentum. The Flyers' comeback attempt fell short after Terriers captain Broderick Black took a shot while being chased on a breakaway. The puck rebounded off a Flyers defenceman and trickled into the net.
Black says the Terriers played some of their best hockey of the year in the opening round of the playoffs.
“I thought everyone bought in,” he said. “The effort was there, the physicality was definitely stepped up, and we were able to put the puck in the net."
Like Brown, Black was still looking for his first goal of the playoffs in game four. He says it was a relief to get the series-clinching goal.
Looking ahead, Black says the Terriers have a great chance of winning again in the second round.
“Whoever we get next is going to be a really good team,” he said. “It’s going to be a lot harder than this series. We are going to have to come prepared.”
The Terriers won’t play again until Monday at the earliest. They are guaranteed to start round two in their home arena and their opponent is to be determined later this week.
