Mount Forest Patriots clobber Mitchell in playoff opener
MOUNT FOREST – The Mount Forest Patriots opened their Provincial Junior Hockey League playoffs with a 9-1 pounding of the Mitchell Hawks Saturday at the Mount Forest and District Sports Complex.
The game was the first one of a best-of-seven Pollock Division quarter-final.
The Patriots led 2-0 at the end of the first period and 8-0 after the second.
Owen Tovell had a hat trick for Mount Forest while Brody Leblanc had two goals and three assists. The other goals were scored by Jack Micone, Matt McLellan, Seth Huygen and Jordan Leitch. Jared Rowe, Will Lewis, Austin Griffin and Keegan Detweiler each had two assists while Huygen, Conner Willmets and Jaxon Gawel each had one assist.
Hayden Hessel scored the goal for Mitchell four minutes into the third period. Connor Lockhart assisted on the play.
The Patriots outshot the Hawks 40-28 including a 20-9 advantage in their six-goal second period. They also went 1-for-5 on their power play and kept Mitchell scoreless on eight power plays.
Marshall Nicholls had 27 saves for the Patriots while Joshua Jacklin had 23 for Mitchell until he was replaced by Tomas Brintnell at 11:55 of the second after Mount Forest’s fifth goal. Brintnell had eight saves during his stint.
The opening game of the series was originally scheduled for last Wednesday night, but was postponed due to weather conditions.
Second game of the series is now set for Sunday at 7:30 p.m. at the Mitchell Arena.
Third game is also to be played there Thursday at 7:30 p.m., although a game in Mount Forest could be scheduled for earlier in the week to replace the postponed match.
Other games in the series, if they’re needed, are to be played next Saturday at Mount Forest at 8 p.m. (this could become Game 4), March 10 at Mitchell at 6:40 p.m. and March 11 at Mount Forest at 8 p.m.
- Guelph Sports Journal