The Wings lead the League in shorthanded goals but tonight it was St. Mike's time to turn the tables as they scored three times with the man short en route to a rout of Hamilton 10-3 as their home game winning streak of seven games came to an abrupt end.
Josh McQuade did well to keep the puck in at the blueline and put a precision pass on to the stick of Josh Vella to put the Wings up 1-0 just before the 11 minute mark of the first but that would be the highlight of the night for the home fans. Before the end of the period the Buzzers put three behind Dillon Branco- a powerplay effort from Daniel Ciampini followed a minute later buy a shorthanded goal from Reilly Smith on a breakaway and then in the dying seconds the failure of a Wing defender to get the puck unto the opposition zone created a chance for Marc Rubino to make it 3-1 Buzzers after one.
The second shorthanded goal for the Buzzers came just over five minutes into the second as Smith and Miller broke in 2 on 1..Reilly to Greg..goal number four. On a delayed penalty Nick Ciampini put the visitors up by five and that spelled the end for Branco who could well have sued for lack of support. Rob Behling took over in net but less than two minutes later Miller and Smith combined on another shorthanded break with Reilly the triggerman this time. It was 7-1 just over 11 minutes in as, with a two-man advantage Jesse Beamish blasted one home. The Wings would pull one back before period's end as Bruce Crawford scored on a smart pass from Brent McGrail. 7-2 Toronto with the Wings not looking like making a comeback but this is the Central...
St. Mike's got three of the four goals in the final frame starting with a nice second effort by Tyler Allen. A laughable defensive giveaway allowed Daniel Ciampini to tab his second of the game and any realistic hopes of a home team comeback evaporated. In the waning minutes of the contest Matthew Shannon scored the tenth for the Buzzers who were enjoying a two-man advantage at the time. Nathan Pageau flipped home a McQuade pass to end the scoring.
The Buzzers have now won six in a row and were on top of the Wings all night. Terrence Reid was solid in net for the winners. Ugly defensive play, too much individual effort and lack of concentration on the powerplay made this one to forget for the home side but they have a quick chance for redemption as they play the Buzzers again Friday night in Toronto.
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First 11 minutes of the game...ALL HAMILTON...Last 49 minutes of the the game...ALL ST.MIKES..
Hamilton just came out flying, they could not lose the puck, making smart plays, getting good plays going, they score...Then they just stop playing..I have no clue WTF happened..
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Great write up, always good to see that when theres nothing on pointstreak. DUKES_FAN is really good at it too when he does writeups.
The Central division just goes to show how competitive Ontario hockey is. There are a lot of great teams in the Central who are playing very exciting hockey. Add that with the fact that teams like Couchiching, Buffalo and even Orangeville have had excellent seasons thus far, where that clearly wasn't evident last season.
I really think the Central Division has worked wonders for the OJHL; producing better hockey in all rinks in the league.
In the end, I am a firm believer that playing against the stronger teams in the central, that the OJHL winner will come from that division.
Wellington, Hamilton and Markham are the top threats but St. Mikes is even making a bid for a run with a huge win against Hamilton last night. Wellington must be very happy with that result after their breif little skid.
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The top 6 teams in the Central Division are separated by just 4 pts. Seventh place Cobourg has more points now then they did all last season and they still have 20 games left.
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Did you ever think the reason that Cobourg has more pts this season than all last season could be because the teams that they are playing in the Central this year are a lot weaker than the East Division teams they played against last season?
Think about it.
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"The Central division just goes to show how competitive Ontario hockey is. There are a lot of great teams in the Central who are playing very exciting hockey. Add that with the fact that teams like Couchiching, Buffalo and even Orangeville have had excellent seasons thus far, where that clearly wasn't evident last season."
You call 10-3 'competitive' hockey.Yea, maybe if it was field hockey!
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The standard of hockey is not better than prior to the introduction of the central. At least three of the St Mikes goals last night were the result of some of the worst defensive plays I have seen in 20 years of watching the Kilty Bs. Mr Ball should be grateful that Ron Wilson is not coaching the team.
When the Bs would plaster teams like Bramalea and Missisauga in the old West division we called that uncompetitive hockey. Yet now with double figure scores almost a weekly occurence we say its a better standard. The central division is pond hockey - based on speed, speed and more speed.
There is something wrong when the Kilty Bs outscore the Hamilton Tiger Cats on a regular basis!
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If you look at all the divisions, the competition is much closer in all the leagues with the addition of the central. Sure there are still blow out games, that is something that happens in hockey and any sport for that matter. Do you think the Raptors getting beat by 30+ points means that they play in an uncompetitive league?
There is no doubt in my mind from watching games this season that the central division winner will be the OJHL representitive in the Dudley Hewitt Cup. I have seen the top teams in the Ruddock division play and they cannot even compare to the Central division. I am hoping to get to see some Aurora action in the near future and Oakville is definitely in the near future! From what I have seen now, the central is strides ahead of the rest of the league
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You have NOT seen Aurora or Oakville but 'there is no doubt the Central will represent the OPJHL at the RBC.I guess your 'opinion' is based on 'squat'.Did you omit 'Couch' intentionally or is it because they lead the league?
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The games that I have seen in the Central division, well without being too critical, I would say its not up to snuff for lack of a better word or term. Huge scores between so called top teams? Calibre is week. You have some skilled players in the diviision but for the most part, its very week.
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I definitely missed Couch. I would love to see them playing against Aurora when I go watch a game from that division.
I didn't say anything about the Central being an RBC team, I said they will be the OJHLs representative in the DHC. There are some very good teams in the CJHL that could have a say in that.
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The Red Wings have all the offense but will not win in the end because they have not gotten the top notch goalie they need. I can't say that the Wings didn't do everything they could to get Jason Guy, but in a year when you've made it abundantly celar that you're going for it, you can't not get a goaltender like him. I'm not sure who Hamilton will get now but I think not getting Guy will be their undoing in a couple of months.
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This is Hamilton's fifth goalie this season, but it was no different last year..Branco played well in the last couple games going into this one, but if his defence (who we have like 5 or 6 of for some DAMN reason) wouldn't hang him out to dry on every goal he let in, then Branco would look great right now, but hes not..
Our GM is focusing mainly on offence, and we even have 2 or 3 guys (offensive players) who are hurt/not playing right now, but no backup defenceman. Fortino left yesterday's game with, Im guessing a wrist sprain, and that will put us to 5 defenceman I believe. WE NEED DEFENCEMAN BEFORE ANY MORE OFFENCE, but our GM doesn't see this. Of our defence, Jeremy Goodwin is the only guy I'd say has been playing decent D, the rest have been terrible, and we need a defenceman (or two) who stays at home and actually plays D..Until we get that, I wouldn't be surprised if we get lit up for 10+ goals again this season.
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I could be mistaken too or should I say I misunderstood, but I was told Hamilton does not have any cards left. If they do have cards available defense is the number 1 priority. The problem is Hamilton is not the only team in dire need of a defenseman. I would say every other team in the OPJHL need defensemen. So trying to go out an find one, I don't think anyone will part with a high calibre defenseman.
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Hamilton picked up crawford and mcgrail to win any they lose 10-2 to st mikes. They have not figured in on in game winning goals what so ever, grabinh the 6th goal with a 5 goal difference anyone can do that
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Pointstreak has now been adjusted to reflect the correct score 10-3..it looks much better than 10-2 right? ..and Nathan Pageau now has 32 goals tied for second with Ian DeLong of the Bruins.
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