Another OT victory for Patriots to lead conference final

For the second game in a row the Mount Forest Patriots struck for a goal in overtime to edge the Hanover Barons in Provincial Junior Hockey League playoff action.

Matt McLellan’s goal 11 minutes into extra time gave the Patriots a 3-2 victory over the Barons in their best-of-seven Pollock Division final Friday at Hanover’s P and H Centre.

The win gives Mount Forest a 3-2 lead in the championship series.

Mount Forest scored the lone goal of the first period before Hanover pulled even with the second period’s only goal. The Barons went ahead at 8:39 of the third, but the Patriots tallied with 1:40 to go in regulation time to knot the score.

Seth Huygen, Jaxon Gawel and Matt McLellan had a goal apiece for Mount Forest while Brody Leblanc had two assists and Austin Griffin had one.

Joey Stimac and Jacob Duggan scored for Hanover and Patrick Brown assisted on both goals. Kyle Maloney and Alex McGillivray each had one assist.

Hanover outshot the Patriots 42-34 and went 1-for-6 on its power play while Mount Forest was scoreless on three power plays.

Marshall Nicholls stopped 40 shots in the Mount Forest net while Derek Hartley had 31 saves for Hanover.

Game 6 is set for Saturday at 8:30 p.m. at the Mount Forest and District Sports Complex.

If a seventh game is needed, it’s to be played Monday at 8 p.m. at Hanover.

• Guelph Sports Journal