ORILLIA MAJOR MIDGET TERRIERS
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An amazing season continues for Orillia’s Kelseys Restaurant Major Midget ‘A’ Terriers and their fans, as they have earned the right to play Woolwich for the Ontario Minor Hockey Association (OMHA) championship.
The local major midget Terriers hockey team has compiled an impressive record of 48-4-4 in regular season, tournament and playoff games to this point.
Woolwich and Orillia have been ranked No. 1 and 2 respectively in the province this year in OMHA Major Midget A. The Terriers defeated Woolwich (Elmira) 1-0 in the Midland Regional Silver Stick Tournament Finals earlier this season.
The team hopes that local hometown fans will fill the stands for their upcoming home games in the OMHA championship series. The dates for the series have not yet been finalized.
In the OMHA semi-finals, the major midgets lined up against the Bradford Bulldogs for a chance to secure one of the final two spots in this year’s OMHA finals. The series would prove to be tight checking, with plenty of thunderous hits being offered and taken by both teams.
The series opened with a very close 2-2 tie in Bradford. The Terriers were bolstered by the play of Jayden Murison, who had recovered from a recent injury. His speed and heavy shot were welcome additions.
Thomas Bovett got the Terriers on the board, on a pass from Braedan Downer. Noah Mountain made sure the Terriers came out with one point when he buried one in the third on a pass from Ethan Genno.
The Terriers returned to Rotary Place in Game 2 and earned a suffocating 3-0 victory over the Bulldogs. Downer had the winner on the opening goal, when he connected on helpers from linemates Devon Edmonds and Liam McCrimmon. Edmonds had the Terriers second goal on a beautiful feed from Bovett. Netminder Owen Cuff earned the shutout and first star of the game as he frustrated shooters time and time again. McCrimmon put the game out of reach with the third goal, on assists from Downer and Owen Buckland.
The big story of the series was the finish to the third game of the series at Rotary Place.
Bradford was determined to tie up the series and had kept the Terriers off the scoresheet for two full periods. The Bulldogs entered the third up by a lone goal, 1-0. With that one goal behind him, Cuff shut and locked the door as he turned away Bulldog shot after shot. The stands erupted with 1:05 left in the third, with Cuff on the bench for the extra attacker, when Downer broke the Bulldogs' heart with the tying goal as the Terriers swarmed the net. Gabe Neely corralled the bouncing puck to set up Downer to send the game into overtime.
The momentum was clearly in Orillia’s favour in the extra frame against their deflated opponent. Buckland would be the overtime hero as he deposited the winning goal behind the Bradford goalie at the 3:09 mark, on passes from Bovett and Mountain.
With a chance to move onto the finals, the Terriers travelled to Bradford looking to end the series in Game 4. Returning to the line-up was tenacious checking and penalty-killing forward, Owen Vandusen.
The Terriers led from start to finish in the 4-1 win. Netminder Teddy McCollum-Kuntz could only be beaten for one goal in the deciding match, as he picked up the series win.
Scoring was spread well through the lineup, with goals scored by Downer, Buckland, Neely and defenceman Nolan Macneal. Joey Rasata (2), Owen Demeules, Adam Emon, Bovett and Edmonds had the helpers. Defenseman Curtis Gilbert was highly visible as he continually boxed out some mammoth Bradford forwards to allow McCollum-Kuntz to see the puck time and again.
Team defence, toughness in front of the net and stellar goaltending made the difference in this series. Timely goals, when needed, sealed the series win.
The Terriers entered the playoffs unbeaten in all 23 regular-season games they played. In York-Simcoe preliminary play, the Terriers came out strong and swept the Newmarket Redmen in three games, by the scores of 3-1, 4-2 and 7-0. Next up, the Terriers had the brooms out again to take the three-game series against the Georgina Blaze with 4-0, 5-2 and 1-0 wins.
Moving on into the quarterfinals of the OMHA paydowns, the Terriers drew a familiar opponent in the Centre Wellington Fusion. The Fushion ended this team’s OMHA dreams last year, but this time the Terriers would prove to be the more talented squad.
However, the Terriers were stopped short in the first game at Rotary Place by a tough 3-2 defeat, their first of the year in non-tournament play. Head Coach Mike Borelli and his coaching and training staff made some key adjustments, which paid off nicely with the Terriers winning the next three games to put the Fushion out of the OMHA playoffs for the year.
The offence shifted into high gear as the team won by scores of 4-2, 6-3 and 5-3. The series win vaulted the Terriers into the OMHA semi-finals.
The Terriers were the champions of the hometown Jim Wilson Tournament, the regional champions of the Midland Silver Stick Qualifier Tournament and the finalists in the Pickering Invitational Tournament. They would like to thank their sponsor, Kelseys Restaurant and all of their fans for their support this year.
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