Sports

Last-second goal propels Golden Hawks over Orillia

January 10, 2019   ·   0 Comments

Written By JAKE COURTEPATTE

With just one month left on the Provincial Junior Hockey League calendar, every point counts.

It was first-year forward Kegan Hoover who gave his Caledon Golden Hawks an early Christmas present by providing a late winning goal against the Orillia Terriers on Dec. 23, giving the Hawks a crucial two points in the Carruthers division race.

Looking to take advantage of a Terriers squad that had lost three of its last four games, Dylan Cox was stellar in the first period between the pipes for the Golden Hawks in his first piece of action since Dec. 7, giving starting goaltender Sebastian Woods a well-deserved night off.

Woods and the Caledon special teams were able to kill off a pair of early Orillia power plays before the Terriers opened the scoring on their tenth shot of the game, just before the fifteen-minute mark of the opening frame.

With Orillia’s Nevin King in the box for slashing early in the second, it was Hoover that capitalized on a Golden Hawks man advantage to tie the game at ones, the first of two for Caledon in the period as captain Matt Magliozzi buried one late before the second buzzer.

Yet it was Orillia who led 3 – 2 with just under nine minutes to go in regulation, when team-leading goal scorer Mathiau Young put home the Golden Hawks’ third power play goal of the game to tie it at three. 

Hoover’s game winner, his sixteenth goal in 32 games this season, came with just ten seconds left on the clock on a tic-tac-toe play from Everett Flewelling and Magliozzi.

Cox’s sixth win of the season came on the back of a 30 save performance.

The winning streak was snapped, however, following a five-day holiday break in which the Golden Hawks seemed to show signs of fatigue against the powerhouse Alliston Hornets, outshot 42 – 18 in a 5 – 2 loss on Friday.

With the Hornets looking to avenge a mid-December loss to the Hawks at Caledon East Arena, they took to their home ice of New Tecumseth Rec Centre and came out flying, throwing sixteen shots on Woods’ net in the first period to take a 2 – 0 lead after twenty minutes.

The Caledon net continued to be bombarded in the second with three more unanswered Alliston goals, digging the Golden Hawks into a hole they could not crawl out of.

Flewelling stopped the bleeding late in the second to make it a 5 – 1 score, before Magliozzi picked up a powerplay marker midway through the final frame. Woods made 37 stops in just his fifth loss for the Hawks this season.

With just eight games left on the regular season schedule, the loss brings Caledon (20-9-2-1) and Alliston (20-9-1-1) to almost identical records in the PJHL’s Carruthers division standings, with Caledon up by one point for second spot in the eight-team division.

The Stayner Siskins (24-5-2-2) lead the pack, sitting a cozy nine points clear of the Golden Hawks.

Caledon visit the Midland Flyers (14-12-2-1) on Friday, before returning home to Caledon East Arena on Sunday for the first home game of 2019 against the Penetang Kings (14-15-1-2).

Puck drop on Sunday is set for 7:30p.m. 

For stats, schedules, and more information, visit www.jrcgoldenhawks.pointstreaksites.com.

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