Guelph Regals down Point Edward to start playoffs

The Guelph Regals yielded the first two goals of the game before scoring six times in the second period on their way to an 8-5 victory in their playoff opener Friday night at the Victoria Road arena.

The game was the first of a best-of-five West Division quarterfinal.

Point Edward was ahead 2-0 at the end of the first period, but trailed 6-3 after the second.

Levi Wilson had a hat trick for Guelph while Troy MacDonald tallied twice and Gage Thompson, Carter Mackay and Nicolas Dabic added single goals. Ben Morton had three assists while Liam Keating, Mackay and Dabic each had two and Thompson, Wyatt Johnson, Bowen Downey, Zachary Wright, Kaylan Lecompte, David Dixon and Sawyer Smith each had one.

Josh Manning scored three times for Point Edward while Gabe Phelps had the other pair of goals. Mason Brown had two assists while single assists were awarded to Manning, Rylan Padelford, Cohen Veenstra, Lucas Ross and Brayden Hogan.

The Regals outshot the Pacers 59-49 and both teams had a power-play goal.

Dane Dickinson had 44 saves for the Regals while Austin Dalgety had 51 for the Pacers.

The Regals had finished third in the West Division at the end of the regular season with a 15-5-0 (W-L-T) record while the Pacers were sixth at 12-8-0. Guelph defeated Point Edward 18-4 at the Victoria Road arena May 8 and 12-8 at the Point Edward Arena May 15.

Second game of the West quarterfinal is set for Sunday at 3 p.m. at Point Edward while Game 3 is to go next Friday at 8 p.m. at the Victoria Road arena.

• Guelph Sports Journal