Minto tops Erin in final game of OEHL regular season
ERIN – The Minto 81’s scored in each period as they downed the Erin Outlaws 4-1 in the final game of the Ontario Elite Hockey League’s regular season.
With the win Minto finishes third in the 11-team league’s standings, a point ahead of the Tavistock Royals. The Outlaws were already assured of an eighth-place finish.
The 81’s scored the lone goal of the first period and lead 3-0 after the second.
Caleb Warren had a pair of goals for Minto while Blake Nichol and Adam Kawalec each scored once. Jacob McEachern assisted on two of the goals while single assists were awarded to Riley Torrie, Blair Butchart, Riley Cribbin, Justin Graham and Shawn Lantz.
Joey Warywoda scored for Erin 1:33 into the third period. Travis Brown and Jacob Miller assisted on the goal.
The 81’s outshot the Outlaws 37-28 and neither team managed a power-play goal, Minto on three power plays and Erin on four.
The Ripley Wolves finished first in the final standings at 16-1-3 (W-L-OTL) and were followed by the Creemore Coyotes (14-5-1), the 81’s (13-6-1), Tavistock (13-7-0), Durham Thundercats (12-7-1), Seaforth Centenaires (12-8-0), Saugeen Shores Winterhawks (11-8-1), the Outlaws (6-13-1), Georgian Bay Applekings (5-13-2), Milverton Four Wheel Drives (5-14-1), and Lucknow Lancers (3-16-1).
The 81’s are to play Seaforth in the best-of-seven quarter-finals. They’re to start Friday at the Palmerston arena at 8:30 p.m. while Game 2 is to go Saturday at 8:30 p.m. at Seaforth.
The Outlaws are to play Ripley in another quarter-final series that is to start Friday at Ripley at 8:30 p.m. The second game is to go Saturday at Erin at 6:30 p.m.
Creemore and Saugeen Shores are to meet in another quarter-final that is to start Friday night at Port Elgin while Tavistock and Durham are to battle in the other quarter-final starting Friday at 8:30 p.m. in Durham.
Georgian Bay, Milverton and Lucknow are to meet in a three-team round-robin consolation semifinal series with the top two teams meeting in the consolation final. It’s to start with Lucknow and Georgian Bay meeting Friday night in Thornbury.
- Guelph Sports Journal