Orillia hockey fans were hoping to see the hometown Orillia Terriers take a 3-1 series lead in Game 4 of their second-round Provincial Junior Hockey League, North Carruthers Division playoff series Tuesday night at Rotary Place.
The Stayner Siskins had other plans.
The Siskins sucked the energy out of the building and its 278 fans early when Ryan Mackay and Ty Kulba scored back-to-back goals within the first six minutes of the game.
After the second goal, Terriers head coach Dallyn Telford called a time-out to try to slow down the sizzling pace of the Siskins and to reverse the momentum.
The Terriers had their opportunity to get back into the game with two power-play chances that followed the Siskins' initial strikes, but they couldn’t convert. The Terriers finished 0-5 for the night with the man advantage.
After an over 20-minute delay to start the second period, waiting for a replacement referee to arrive at the rink to take over duties for injured referee Dave Angus, who took a slap shot off the arm in the first period, action resumed.
The home team was seemingly in Stayner’s end for most of the second period, but only managed 11 shots on goal and they failed to beat red-hot Siskins goalie Brendan Macham.
The Siskins put the final nail in the coffin just over five minutes into the third period when Tanner Hicks buried his third of the playoffs. Josh Battistella added an insurance tally for the Siskins.
Everette Nudd continued his hot streak when he got the Terriers on the board late with his seventh of the playoffs. But it was too little too late as the Siskins cruised to a 4-1 win.
The best-of-seven series is now tied at two games apiece.
The star of the game was Macham - the Stayner goalie stopped all but one of the 29 shots fired his way.
"The boys were buzzing tonight and I was seeing the puck well," Macham told OrilliaMatters after the contest.
"The first two games I could have played better, but I've played good these last two, and the boys have responded by playing hard in front of me."
Terriers captain Owen King says he expected the series to be a close, back-and-forth battle - even after the team won the opening two games of the series.
"During the regular season we won a couple of games against them and we lost a couple, so I didn't expect a sweep, obviously," King said.
King says it's important for his teammates to not get too caught up in the emotions of losing two games in a row. He said he is looking forward to the challenge ahead.
"Now, it's a best-of-three, so we got to get back to our game plan Thursday night and come back home with a win," King said.
Game 5 goes in Stayner Thursday night. The Terriers return home on Saturday night for Game 6. Puck drop is 7:30 p.m. at Rotary Place.
