Guelph Regals drop heartbreaker in deciding game
ST. CATHARINES – That first Ontario Junior B Lacrosse League tier 1 playoff series victory in team history continued to be elusive as the Guelph Regals dropped a heartbreaker Sunday night at the Canada Games arena in the fifth and deciding game of their Western Conference quarter-final with the St. Catharines Athletics.
In a game the Regals led by two goals at the end of the first period, the hosts rallied for a 9-8 victory, the fourth game of the series to be decided by a single goal. The other one was decided by two goals.
St. Catharines Athletics 9 Guelph Regals 8
The series was between two closely-matched teams and the stats for the entire series bear out that statement. They scored 41 goals apiece. The Regals outshot St. Catharines 270-266 through the five games and, according to the game sheets, Guelph went 5-for-30 on its power play while St. Catharines went 5-for-31. The Athletics were whistled for 127 minutes in penalties while the Regals took 109.
And the regular season had pointed to the possibility of an extremely close series as the two teams had split their two meetings, the Regals winning 6-3 in the season opener in St. Catharines April 21 and the Athletics prevailing 11-9 at the Victoria Road arena May 13.
The Athletics gained home-court advantage in the series by finishing fourth in the conference at 14-6-0, two points up on the Regals who were 13-7-0. Both teams had 7-3-0 records at home in the regular season and St. Catharines had scored 58 more goals than it allowed in the regular season while Guelph had scored 67 more than it gave up.
But Sunday’s game came down to a stretch of 7:01 in the second period when St. Catharines scored four consecutive goals to turn a 3-1 deficit into a 5-3 lead. The Regals did battle back to tie the score a couple of times in the third period, but they couldn’t get a go-ahead goal.
Ethan Keleher, Dallon Evans and Jack MacAlpine scored twice each for the Regals while Callyn Martin and Owen Orpana also scored. Keleher and Orpana each had three assists while Dylan Goddard and Riley McLellan had two each and Evans and MacAlpine had one apiece.
Christian Lefeuvre, Jaden Patterson, Liam Dietsch and Justin Porga netted two goals apiece for St. Catharines and Trent Mooridian had the other goal.
The Regals outshot their hosts 51-50 and they went 2-for-7 on their power play while St. Catharines went 5-for-7.
Dante Mancini had 41 saves in the Guelph net while Oliver Vanyo had 43 for St. Catharines.
It’s the third time the Regals have lost to a St. Catharines opponent in the deciding game of a playoff series.
With the win the Athletics move on to face the Elora Mohawks in the conference semifinals. Elora finished first in the conference with a 17-3-0 mark and beat the Athletics both times they met – 12-2 at the Elora Community Centre May 7 and 9-5 at St. Catharines June 18.
- Guelph Sports Journal
Guelph Regals drop heartbreaker in deciding game
ST. CATHARINES – That first Ontario Junior B Lacrosse League tier 1 playoff series victory in team history continued to be elusive as the Guelph Regals dropped a heartbreaker Sunday night at the Canada Games arena in the fifth and deciding game of their Western Conference quarter-final with the St. Catharines Athletics.
In a game the Regals led by two goals at the end of the first period, the hosts rallied for a 9-8 victory, the fourth game of the series to be decided by a single goal. The other one was decided by two goals.
St. Catharines Athletics 9
Guelph Regals 8
The series was between two closely-matched teams and the stats for the entire series bear out that statement. They scored 41 goals apiece. The Regals outshot St. Catharines 270-266 through the five games and, according to the game sheets, Guelph went 5-for-30 on its power play while St. Catharines went 5-for-31. The Athletics were whistled for 127 minutes in penalties while the Regals took 109.
And the regular season had pointed to the possibility of an extremely close series as the two teams had split their two meetings, the Regals winning 6-3 in the season opener in St. Catharines April 21 and the Athletics prevailing 11-9 at the Victoria Road arena May 13.
The Athletics gained home-court advantage in the series by finishing fourth in the conference at 14-6-0, two points up on the Regals who were 13-7-0. Both teams had 7-3-0 records at home in the regular season and St. Catharines had scored 58 more goals than it allowed in the regular season while Guelph had scored 67 more than it gave up.
But Sunday’s game came down to a stretch of 7:01 in the second period when St. Catharines scored four consecutive goals to turn a 3-1 deficit into a 5-3 lead. The Regals did battle back to tie the score a couple of times in the third period, but they couldn’t get a go-ahead goal.
Ethan Keleher, Dallon Evans and Jack MacAlpine scored twice each for the Regals while Callyn Martin and Owen Orpana also scored. Keleher and Orpana each had three assists while Dylan Goddard and Riley McLellan had two each and Evans and MacAlpine had one apiece.
Christian Lefeuvre, Jaden Patterson, Liam Dietsch and Justin Porga netted two goals apiece for St. Catharines and Trent Mooridian had the other goal.
The Regals outshot their hosts 51-50 and they went 2-for-7 on their power play while St. Catharines went 5-for-7.
Dante Mancini had 41 saves in the Guelph net while Oliver Vanyo had 43 for St. Catharines.
It’s the third time the Regals have lost to a St. Catharines opponent in the deciding game of a playoff series.
With the win the Athletics move on to face the Elora Mohawks in the conference semifinals. Elora finished first in the conference with a 17-3-0 mark and beat the Athletics both times they met – 12-2 at the Elora Community Centre May 7 and 9-5 at St. Catharines June 18.
- Guelph Sports Journal