WELLINGTON - Meeting for the second time in three days, the St. Michael’s Buzzers and the Wellington Dukes concluded their weekend home and home series on Sunday night in Wellington. After a hard fought effort that fell just short on Friday night, the Buzzers were looking to avenge their defeat and pick up an ever-important two points in the increasingly congested Central Division standings. However, for the second consecutive game, a gritty, determined effort came up just shy as the Dukes picked up another one goal victory, 5-4, defeating St. Michael’s for the third time in three attempts this season.

John Nauta drew the start for Wellington but was pulled in favour of Ed Davey after allowing two goals on four shots. After the net minding change, the Dukes settled down defensively, tying the game before the end of the first period and then hung around until scoring three third period goals to secure the victory.

“You’ve got to give them (the Dukes) credit, they battled right to the end,” said Buzzers’ Assistant Coach Mario DePiero. “I thought we were very good, shaky first period but we weathered the storm, we bounced back, adjusted a few things in the defensive zone and the neutral zone and missed a few chances but that’s the game and they (the Dukes) won the battle today.”

The game started out with a playoff style feel to it as both teams showed a lot of intensity and skated well through the opening stages of the first period. At 4:47, Frank Salituro put the Buzzers in the lead, scoring the game’s first goal on a good set up from Marc Rubino. Less than two minutes later, St. Michael’s expanded their lead to a pair of goals when Greg Miller jammed in a loose puck during a goal mouth scramble.

At that point, feeling his team was playing well and not wanting to let the game get to far away from them, Dukes’ Head Coach Marty Abrams opted for a net minding change, replacing John Nauta in favour of Ed Davey, who was coming off a strong effort against the Buzzers on Friday night.

The move paid off as just over a minute after Miller’s goal, Chris Ayotte got the Dukes’ on the board, scoring his sixteenth goal of the season. Midway through the period, Chris Brown tied the game, batting the puck out of midair at the top of the goal crease in front of Buzzers’ netminder Charles Williams.

“I thought we were playing really well up until that point (the net minding change) and I just thought that if we kept playing that well, good things would happen,” said Abrams. “Then a complete switch in the second period, they (the Buzzers) really took it to us so it was a very difficult game to coach. The momentum went back and forth and back and forth and it really wasn’t finalized until the last shot on net.”

After being outshot 19-7 in the first period but not drastically outplayed, St. Michael’s dominated the play in the second period, outshooting the Dukes 21-7 while spending much of the period in the Wellington zone. The Dukes managed to escape though giving up just one goal – a power play marker from Dave Stevens at 2:04 – due to an exceptional display of net minding from Ed Davey.

Early in the third period, Zachary Blake capitalized on a strange bounce off the end boards in the Buzzers’ zone which caught the St. Michael’s defence out of position to tie the game at three goals apiece. At 5:47 though, St. Michael’s retook the lead when Eric Rubino scored the Buzzers’ second power play goal of the game – his thirteenth tally of the season - after good puck movement in the offensive zone led to a pass from Dan Ciampini behind the net into the slot.

Always a difficult team to play though, especially in their home rink, the Dukes did not let up and eventually scored the tying marker at 13:47 on a hard shot from Jeremy Franklin. In the final minute with the Buzzers forced to kill off a penalty, Franklin struck again scoring his second goal to give the Dukes’ their first lead of the game, twenty four seconds from the end of regulation.

“It always feels good to get a goal like that at the last second to give your team two points,” said Franklin.

One of three Dukes’ to represent Team Canada East at the World Jr. A Challenge, Franklin acknowledged the difference in the play after returning to the smaller ice surface at the Wellington District and Community Centre.

“Coming from the big ice out west (in Camrose, Alberta) to the small barn, there’s not as much time and space so when they make the check, you’ve got to be quick with the puck and use the chips,” he said. “Tonight I guess we used the chips a little bit better than they (the Buzzers) did and made the most of it.”

The victory pulled Wellington to within one point of the lead in the Central Division currently shared by the Markham Waxers and the Hamilton Red Wings, while still holding four games and five games in hand, respectively on the Waxers and Red Wings.

Losing handily by a score of 6-1 at the hands of the Markham Waxers last Sunday (November 9th), Abrams was pleased with his team’s play, rebounding with a better effort against the Buzzers, not wanting to turn in a second consecutive poor effort on home ice.

“You’re not playing a team down there that’s used to losing,” explained Abrams. “That’s a heck of a hockey club every year. The fact that we were able to bounce back here at home after a real dismal performance last Sunday at home: that was a real motivating factor for our guys. We didn’t want to play poorly in our rink back to back.”

Despite being unable to secure any points over the weekend home and home series with the Dukes, St. Michael’s did put forth two determined, physical efforts while employing a strong work ethic, traits that, if continued, will undoubtedly yield success as the season wears on.

“Yes,” said DePiero, when asked if it was important for the Buzzers to continue the style of play exhibited in the past two games. “That’s something that we’re working on between Cam Stewart, myself and Mike (DePellegrin) in practices and we hope that it will become consistent play for us.”

The upcoming week will be an important one for St. Michael’s with back to back games against teams close to them in the standings: the Newmarket Hurricanes on Thursday and the Markham Waxers on Friday.

“We’ll try to establish a good forecheck, get shots on net, get chances and don’t give up,” said DePiero. “That’s the game and that’s our division, it’s pretty tight.”

TORONTO (SMCS) - In their first game back since helping Team Canada East to a bronze medal at the World Jr. A Challenge, six teammates representing Canada on the international stage became foes once again when the Wellington Dukes visited the St. Michael’s Buzzers on Friday night. Jeremy Franklin, Marty O’Grady and David Pratt were back in the Dukes’ line up while Greg Miller, Nick D’Agostino and Reilly Smith made their returns to the Buzzers line up – all after getting back earlier this week from Camrose, Alberta.

Though Miller, D’Agostino and Smith provided the entirety of the Buzzers’ offense, playing a much greater role in the game than their Team Canada East counterparts from Wellington, the Dukes managed to outlast the Buzzers at St. Michael’s College School Arena for their second victory over the Buzzers this season, hanging on for a 3-2 win. With the victory, Wellington overtook the Buzzers in the Central Division Standings, moving ahead of St. Michael’s by one point while still holding five games in hand.

“We came into this game having given up ninety shots in the last two games and that’s just not typical Wellington Duke hockey to give up that many shots in two games,” explained Dukes’ Head Coach Marty Abrams. “We wanted to cut down our shots against and I thought we did that effectively here. Anytime you can come into St. Mike’s and take a point or two, you’re doing something right.”

At the desire of their Head Coach, the Dukes did indeed cut down on their shots given up, outshooting the Buzzers by a ratio of two to one for much of the game until a late flurry of offense from St. Michael’s left the final count at 41-28 in favour of Wellington.

Against a team as strong as the Dukes, Buzzers’ Assistant Coach Mario DePiero explained how imperative it is to cut down on mistakes and hope to capitalize when opportunities present themselves.

“A team like Wellington, you try to keep your mistakes to a minimum,” said DePiero. “They just wait and wait, and that’s what we tried to do; we tried to outwait them and hopefully capitalize and we came close.”

After a scoreless first period, Wellington opened the scoring at the 5:34 mark of the second period when Chris Ayotte scored his fifteenth goal of the season. Late in the frame while shorthanded, Reilly Smith – one of the Buzzers’ best forwards in his return to their line up – drew St. Michael’s even with the Dukes with a remarkable individual effort to step around a Wellington defenseman and beat Dukes’ netminder Ed Davey.

“It wasn’t too hard (fitting back into the line up), it was a steady transition,” said Smith. “My forwards really supported me and got me the puck a lot so it made it pretty easy.”

After having a taste of the international stage with Team Canada East, Smith indicated a significant difference in the level of play at the World Jr. A Challenge.

“I found the World Jr. A’s was a lot faster pace,” Smith suggested. “I find that there’s a lot more time here and there’s more time to set up plays so I probably should have created more opportunities tonight but hopefully I can do that next game on Sunday.”

Following Smith’s goal though, the game was not tied for long as Chris Brown restored the Dukes’ lead with his thirteenth goal of the season just eighteen seconds later.

Dukes’ netminder Ed Davey made twenty six stops en route to his seventh victory in eight starts this season. While not called upon frequently, Davey came through with timely stops – an important ability for a netminder to display in a tight game.

“I felt great, I felt awake the entire game after a long bus ride,” said Davey. “I got peppered up, I got ready in warm up and it went well from there. Every shot I saw, my defence was doing a good job clearing the men in front and clearing my rebounds.”

Down the stretch in the third period, Davey continued his strong play, holding off the Buzzers’ attempt to tie the game until Kyle Crawford scored his seventh of the season at 16:33 to add some insurance. Chris Brown and Chris Ayotte picked up assists on Crawford’s goal giving them both three points in the game. Brown, with his three point effort, continued a tremendous stretch of play over his last eleven games that has seen him register twenty eight points during that time.

Late in the period, Greg Miller got the Buzzers back to within one goal at the 19:08 mark, shovelling in an outstanding no-look pass off the stick of Nick D’Agostino. However on this occasion, there would be no heroics at St. Michael’s College School Arena as the Dukes hung on over the final fifty two seconds to secure a victory in the first game of a home and home match up that will see the two teams reconvene on Sunday night in Wellington.

“I expect them (the Buzzers) to bounce back from this loss and take it to us in our barn and show us that if we can come here and beat them, they can come there and beat us but I think we’ll be ready for the challenge, we’re going to be ready to go on Sunday and we’re going to give them another go,” said Davey.

Despite being very much in a position to pick up a victory, Reilly Smith indicated the Buzzers did not create enough offense and that that aspect of their game will need to be improved on Sunday.

“We’re just going to have to get more pucks to the net,” explained Smith. “We were outshot by almost twenty shots so we just have to make sure to create opportunities.”

TORONTO (SMCS) - The St. Michael’s Buzzers took on the Newmarket Hurricanes in a rare Sunday afternoon home game at St. Michael’s College School Arena – their final contest before the return of Greg Miller, Reilly Smith, and Nick D’Agostino who all helped Team Canada East earn a bronze medal at the World Junior A Challenge, defeating Team Belarus, 9-1. Struggling without three of their top players, the Buzzers managed only one win – November 7th against the Toronto Jr. Canadiens – during their four game absence after falling to the Hurricanes, 5-4 in overtime on Sunday.

The Hurricanes, after getting behind by two goals by the 2:21 mark of the second period, managed to fight back, using power plays to full advantage, scoring three goals with the man advantage including the overtime winner. Hurricanes’ Head Coach Brian Perrin was pleased with his team’s ability to hang around and earn a come from behind victory, despite a poor start that saw the Buzzers hold a 13-0 lead on the shot clock before Newmarket registered their first shot.

“I was happy in the end because we obviously got the win but we made some mistakes that let them (the Buzzers) into the game in the third there to tie it back up by being a little selfish,” said Perrin.

St. Michael’s opened the scoring at 10:41 of the first period on the power play when Tyler Allen scored his seventh goal of the season. However, despite the Hurricanes committing five minor penalties by the 10:09 mark, the Buzzers could only manage the one goal, leaving Newmarket relatively unscathed after a parade to the penalty box.

“I think so,” said Buzzers’ Head Coach Cam Stewart, when asked whether his team missed an opportunity to take control of the game early on in the first period. “We want to keep it simple and we want to get shots. We moved the puck alright, we got the shots but we didn’t have any traffic in front of the net and that made it easy for their goalie and to their credit, they killed them off.”

Eric Rubino grew the lead to two goals early on in the second period at 2:21 with a power play marker - his twelfth goal of the season. However, midway through frame, the Buzzers got into penalty trouble of their own, yielding the Hurricanes a two man advantage. Chris MacKay pulled Newmarket to within one goal while on a two man advantage at 13:09 followed by his second goal of the game twenty four seconds later to tie the game at two goals apiece.

“It was important for us because we were waiting for our power plays, we didn’t know if we were going to get any and then when we did, we did capitalize,” said Perrin. “That’s probably the difference in the game is that we capitalized more than they (the Buzzers) did.”

Looking like they were in control for the first half of the game, the Buzzers seemed deflated in the final ten minutes of the second period after Newmarket took advantage of their power plays, managing to tie the game in just twenty four seconds.

“You can see the (deflated) demeanour (on the bench) but that’s what hockey’s all about, that’s called a momentum change,” explained Stewart. “If you’re going to want to get to another level you have to learn to change that momentum back. I thought we worked really hard but to be quite honest I didn’t think a lot of the calls in the third period were very good calls on the referees’ part.”

St. Michael’s afforded the Hurricanes six power plays in the third period but were able to hold them off the scoreboard, instead tying the game at 10:49, just seconds after Tyler Allen exited the penalty box. After collecting the puck in the defensive zone, Dan Ciampini found Tyler Allen with a breakaway pass, who then walked in alone on Hurricanes’ netminder Jimmy Sargeant and beat him to tie the game at three goals apiece.

“It feels great (scoring the tying goal),” said Allen, who scored a pair of goals in a losing effort. “We had the momentum in the first and then we kind of lost it a bit in the second after we ran into some penalty trouble but managed to gain it back in the third. We kind of shot ourselves in the foot in overtime with the penalties but in the end, we came out with a good day (salvaging a point.)”

Late in the third period, the Buzzers managed to hang on, killing off a thirty eight second five on three Hurricanes’ power play with some determined shot blocking from Michael Rubino and Andrew Hackett along with solid netminding from Charles Williams, who made thirty three stops in the game.

In overtime though, with Luca Penzo’s penalty carrying into the extra frame, Jim Campbell won the game for Newmarket with a hard shot from just inside the blueline.

The victory keeps the Hurricanes within striking distance for top spot in the Central Division – just five points back - while the single point the Buzzers earned for the overtime loss leaves them two points behind the Hamilton Red Wings.

“I love the way this division is with the parity,” said Perrin. “We were fortunate enough to play St. Mike’s twice while they were missing three key guys so hopefully we can have the same effort when they have those guys back.”

St. Michael’s will be off until Friday when they begin a pivotal home and home series with the Wellington Dukes at St. Michael’s College School Arena.

“We have to have hard practices throughout the entire week,” explained Allen. “We’ve got to really keep our focus on the games coming up because they’re really important and we’ve got to win them.”