PJHL season ends with Schmalz Cup final tournament

By Brian Lockhart

For the first time in the club's history, the Wellesley Applejacks have won the provincial Junior C champion Schmalz Cup.

The Provincial Junior Hockey League (PJHL) held the provincial finals as a tournament for the past two seasons, with four conference championship teams facing off over three days to determine who will claim the cup.

This year the tournament was held in Woodstock, with round-robin games on Friday, May 12, and Saturday, May 13. The final championship game happened on Sunday, May 14, at the Woodstock District Community Complex.

The four Conference champions were Wellesley from the South Conference, the Stayner Siskins representing the North Conference, Lakeshore Canadiens from the West Conference, and the Clarington Eagles from the East Conference.

The Siskins, Canadiens, and Eagles all returned as defending champions, having won their respective Conferences last season.

The Siskins lost both of their tournament games.

Their first time on the ice on Friday, they gave up a 5-3 loss to Wellesley. Game Two on Saturday ended with a 2-1 loss to Clarington, eliminating them from the competition.

Lakeshore was blanked 4-0 in their first game against Clarington. They were eliminated after losing their second game 3-2 to Wellesley in overtime.

Clarington won both of their games to set them up for the final game against the Applejacks.

In the final, there was no scoring in the first period.

Wellesley took a 2-1 lead in the second period. The Applejacks were ahead 3-1 in the third period after scoring at 2:38 into the final frame.

Clarington scored at the 13:26 mark to tighten the gap, but the Applejacks held on for the 3-2 win to claim the provincial championship.

Wellesley finished second in their division in regular season play with a 31-2-2 record, including two overtime losses – good for 66 points.