STAYNER —The Stayner Siskins came out flying, built an early lead and cruised to a 5-1 victory over the McLean & Dickey Orillia Terriers on Thursday night.
With the home-ice victory, the Siskins take a 1-0 lead in the best-of-seven Provincial Junior Hockey League second-round playoff series.
In front of a capacity crowd of more than 400 fans at the Stayner Memorial Arena, the home side started strong, and buzzed the Terriers net early and often.
Midway through the first frame, Joseph Magani put his team on top. Late in the period, the Siskins scored a pair of goals in less than two minutes — one by William Muszynski and another from Caleb Booth — to take a 3-0 advantage.
The Siskins outshot the Terriers 18-9 in the opening 20 minutes.
The rest of the game was pretty even. In the middle stanza, just 1:07 into the period, Stayner extended their lead to 4-0 thanks to a goal from Kylar Watson. It would be the only goal of the frame.
In the third period, Josh Presley gave the visitors some life when he scored to cut the lead to 4-1. The Terriers pulled the goalie in favour of an extra attacker in a bid to close the gap, but with just under four minutes left on the clock, Stayner's Aaron Leenaars potted an empty net goal to ice the game.
Aidan Jerry, the star of the Terriers' first-round sweep of Huntsville, took the loss between the pipes. He made 39 saves in a game in which the Terriers were outshot 44-36.
There were just six penalties assessed during the game — five to Stayner players. The Terriers failed to capitalize on the power play, including a 90-second two-man advantage in the first period.
Terriers head coach Dallyn Telford says it's important for the Terriers to have the support of their fans when they return home for Game 2 on Saturday night at 7:30 p.m.
"It makes such a difference," he said. "It's like having a seventh player on the ice when we have the energy in the building. It allows us to hold momentum."
--With files from Tyler Evans
