Minto 81’s capture OEHL title with sweep of Tavistock
The Minto 81’s finished their sweep to the Ontario Elite Hockey League’s championship with a 5-2 victory over the Tavistock Royals Saturday at the Tavistock and District Recreation Centre.
The win gave Minto a four-game sweep of the senior AA league’s best-of-seven championship series.
The 81’s scored in each period for the win. They were up 1-0 at the end of the first period and 3-0 after the second.
Riley Cribbin scored four of the goals for Minto while Jacob McEachern had the other one. Kyle Heintzner had two assists and Steven Grant had one.
Sean Kienapple netted both goals for Tavistock while Mike Noyes, Trevor Sauder and Matt Zilke each had an assist.
Tavistock outshot the 81’s 39-33 and went 1-for-5 on its power play while Minto was scoreless on four power plays.
Mark Williams had 37 saves for the 81’s while Jensen Van Boekel had 28 for the Royals.
Minto finished the regular season in third place at 13-6-1 (W-L-OTL) while Tavistock was fourth at 13-7-0.
The 81’s defeated the sixth-place Seaforth Centenaires 4-2 in the quarter-finals and the second-place Creemore Coyotes 4-1 in the semifinals.
Tavistock ousted the fifth-place Durham Thundercats 4-1 in the quarter-finals and the first-place Ripley Wolves 4-2 in the semifinals.
While the Royals were the defending league champions having won it last season when the league competed under the Western Ontario Athletic Association Senior AA Men’s League banner, the title win was the first for the 81’s since 2003 when they were known as the Palmerston 81’s.
- Guelph Sports Journal