Aurora Tigers eliminated the Orangeville Crushers tonight in Aurora by winning the 3rd game of their best of 5 series 6-1. The Tigers did all their scoring in the 1st two periods, 2 goals in the 1st and 4 in the 2nd.
Defenseman Matt Thomson scored 3 goals with Sam Yearsley, David Morley and Mark Thorburn adding singletons. Paul Dupont and Jeff Harbach contributed 2 assists each while Mark Mayea, Michael Sardella, Nick Novak, Cody Smith and Jordan Watts provided an assist each. Aaron Barton continues to get back to form making some fines saves and stopping 25 of 26 shots that came his way. The only one that beat him was again off a Tiger player and was credited to Kyle Manduck of the Crushers. Since returning Barton has faced 67 shots in 3 games turning aside 62. At the other end Eddy Davey continued where he left off the night before making some incredible saves and outguessing the Tabby marksmen again and again. In the end Davey was peppered with 55 shots but managed to stop 49 of them. His outstanding performance earned him another 1st star of the game for the second night in a row. Full credit to Dale Hawerchuk and his team, they never gave up in this series and stayed in until the final buzzer in each game. Look for the Crushers to be a much improved team next season.
The Tabbies now turn their attention, after a few days rest, a few miles to the North of Aurora as they prepare for the Newmarket Hurricanes in what could be a repeat of the fantastic North Semi Final series of last season in which the Cats narrowly won in 6 games.
We shouldn't have a long wait for this one as the 4 out of 7 series could start as soon as this Thursday Feb 21st in Newmarket with the 2nd game Friday night in Aurora. As of tonight a final decision on the start date was still pending. You won't want to miss this series, so stay tuned to the Forum and check the Tiger and Hurricane websites for the dates and times. This series will defintely fall into the "barnburner" classification.
Apparently a series can start earlier if both teams agree to it and they get permission from the league. It would be a natural for Newmarket and Aurora to start on Thursday Feb 21st with the 1st game in Newmarket followed by the 2nd game on Friday Feb 19th in Aurora since Thursday and Friday are Newmarket's and Aurora's home nights.
The next day after Beirnes got tagged with 2 goals in 35 secs, he came down with "pink eye" and had to stay away from the dressing room for a few days because of the contagious factor. Jerome was going to play him against the Otters on the Sunday. Newton was unavailable as his team was playing in the AAA Juvenile playoffs. At 9.30 pm Saturday night young Brandon Brown was called up from the RH Midgets to play against your Otters on the Sunday, and we all know what happened in that game.
The situation now is Beirnes and Newton will back up Barton from here on. Which one will dress will be up to the coaches and Newton's availability. For example Newton backed up Barton in Orangeville Saturday night and Beirnes was back up last night in Aurora. All three Barton, Beirnes and Newton are healthy at this point.
Stouffville sure took it to the Terriers didn't they! I thought the Terriers were going to give them a better series. Stouffville is tough in the playoffs as the Tigers found out the last 2 years. I think they will give the Otters a good run, you guys should come out on top, but as you know playoffs are playoffs and every team turns it up a notch. I'm looking forward to our series with the Canes, I think that we will take it and maintain our 10 year playoff dominance over them.
Although I told Craigshaw on Saturday I thought they would beat the winner........ if they take too many penalties (which they're prone to do )the Stouffville power play maybe too potent for the Otters
