The Villanova Knights blasted off like Titan rockets last night in Aurora, completly surprising the Tigers taking a 2 goal lead after only 35 secs, thats right at the 35 sec mark the Cats were down 2-0. A lot of the 315 on hand were still getting their coffees. Coach Dupont pulled Matt Beirnes at this point for Kyle Newton, probably to get a bit of a time out and to rescue Beirnes who looked like he had seen a ghost. I can't remember the last time that I ever witnessed 2 goals in 35 secs from the opening faceoff.

Anyway, after the shock passed, the Tigers started to come back and in the end prevailed 7-5 over the determined Knights. After it was all over, Knight's tender Joseph D'Elia had faced 65 shots stopping 58 and should have been awarded a medal, since no medals were available, the Tiger minor officials awarded him the 1st star of the game.

Tiger leading scorer Jeff Harbach came up with 4 goals to bring his season total to 31. Capt Mark Thorburn added 1 to bring his total to 28, not bad considering the number of games he missed while nursing an injury. Cody Smith scored his 1st goal as a Tiger and is looking stronger with each game which is good news for the Tabbies. Mark Mayea added a single while defenceman Matt Thomson continues to pile up the assists with 3 in this one. Besides the fantastic netminding by D'Elia, Marc Zanette played his heart out for the Knights scoring 2 goals and 1 assist. The Cats outshot the Knights 65/22.

One more game to go on the season for Aurora, this Sunday against the Huntsville Otters who defeated the Hurricanes last night in Cottage Country 3-2 in a shootout. The Otters must now beat the Tigers on Sunday afternoon in order to take 1st place in the North. The only thing that will take the pressure off the Otters will be a win by Villanova over the Hurricanes tonight, and that ain't gonna happen. Should be a thriller, game time is 2.30 pm.

"Knight's tender Joseph D'Elia had faced 65 shots stopping 58 and should have been awarded a medal, since no medals were available, the Tiger minor officials awarded him the 1st star of the game."

I'm happy to see the Tigers officials regonized the Knights goalie excellent game, despite allowing 7-goals and not getting the win. It shows class that they can respect the effort an opponent made...

Unfortunately the same can't be said for the 3-Star Judges at St. Michael's representing the Buzzers...

Last weekend against the Buzzers Pickering netminder Terrence Reid faced 74-shots, and stopped 68 of them...

Some on the forum were doubting the shot totals, although I didn't count, I have no problem beleiving those totals...

The 3-Stars:
Cassiani (2-goals, 1-assist)
Oakley (2-goals, 0-assists)
Ciampino (0-goals, 0-assists)

That's right. Their 4th line forward, who saw limited ice time (more than usual, but not a regular shift) was deemed to be the 3rd star over a young man who despite everything against him, battled for 60-minutes, stopping 68-shots against the highest-scoring offence in the league, who never let up...(23-shots coming in the 3rd period)...

Yes, he allowed 6-goals, but anyone who watched that game with an unbiased eye saw that the best "performance" in this one, was Terrence Reid. At least have the class to name him the 3rd star for stealing the show in a 6-0 loss (it might be a little thing, but its something)...

Thanks, JPM

www.pickeringpanthersjra.com

Credit to those not wearing the Buzzers jersey is not allowed at St. Mike's.

same thing happens in cobourg, they can lose 10-0 and all three stars will be from their team

"J P M"

Thank you very much for your kind words.

We love our Tigers and will support and back them through thick and thin, however we also regognize and respect outstanding play by our opponents. In Aurora we have 3 minor offcials who pick the 3 stars at each home game. Sometimes we do not agree on the 1st Star right away but in the game that you refer to, Joseph D'Elia was so outstanding that there was not even a discussion on awarding him the 1st Star.

I can't believe that the St Mike's people would not have even considered Reid as one of the Stars after stopping 68 of 74 shots. The only thing that I can think of is some teams award all their Stars to the home team only, which I do not agree with. In Aurora we award the Tiger player of the game, but sometimes that player is not necessarily the 1st Star of the game, for example the Tiger player of the game against the Knights was not the 1st Star, D'Elia was.

Give my regards to Mark Joslin, I know he has had a tough season, but I'm sure he will turn it around next year. Did a great job for us in Aurora for 3 years.