Regals spin franchise history with win in playoff series
GUELPH – History, plain and simple. Franchise history.
When the Guelph Regals walked off the floor in a packed and sweltering Victoria Road arena Wednesday night, they did so having achieved something no previous team in the franchise’s 31-year history had accomplished. They were victors of an Ontario Junior B Lacrosse League Tier 1 playoff series.
Guelph Regals 10 Windsor Clippers 3
“It feels really good for the 25, 26 guys in that dressing room,” Regals coach Steve Keleher said. “They worked all year for it and it’s good to see. They played really well.”
The Regals dropped the Windsor Clippers 10-3 to complete a three-game sweep of the best-of-five Western Conference quarter-final series.
The series triumph came in the 20th ever T1 playoff series for the Regals. They did win a Tier 2 playoff series, a best-of-three affair, in 2000 when only the top four teams in the Western Conference advanced to the T1 playoffs and the other four battled in T2 playoffs.
The Regals pulled out the same script for Wednesday’s game that they had used in winning Game 2 in Windsor Sunday. They waited until the second period to pull away, this time turning a 3-1 lead at the end of the first period into an 8-2 advantage by the end of the second. Sunday, the teams were tied 2-2 at the end of the opening period and Guelph took a 9-2 lead into the third.
“They’re a really good lacrosse team and they’re fast,” coach Keleher said of Windsor. “Our job was to be faster than them and smarter than them.”
Ethan Keleher, Owen Orpana and league scoring champion Marcus Keleher had two goals apiece for the Regals Wednesday while the other goals were scored by Brett Vince, Charlie Boon, Trent Gilbert and Dallon Evans. Marcus Keleher had three assists while Dylan Davey, Boon, Ethan Keleher and Orpana had two apiece and Dylan Goddard and Vince each had one.
Max Frattaroli scored twice for Windsor and he assisted on the other goal scored by Niko Spewock. Grady Holmes had two assists while Callum Brennan, Spewock and Mason Myers-Whiteye had one apiece.
The Regals outshot the Clippers 41-40 and went 2-for-6 on their power play while Windsor went 1-for-4.
Ty Fox-Trudel had 37 saves for the Regals including a pair of splendid stops in the opening period. Griffin Salaris had 31 for the Clippers.
The Regals had won the opening game of the series 10-6 Friday at the Victoria Road arena and they won 11-3 in Game 2 Sunday in Windsor.
Marcus Keleher collected a total of five goals and eight assists in the opening two games of the series while Orpana had three goals and eight assists and Goddard had six goals and two assists. Vince gathered three goals and two assists while Boon had a goal and three assists, Evans had four assists and Matthew Darroch had two assists. Netting single goals were Marcus Visentin, Cam Wheeldon and Ethan Keleher while single assists went to Fox-Trudel, Mason Walton, Davey, Zachary Wright and Tyler Beecraft.
Fox-Trudel had a total of 83 saves in the first two games.
Guelph’s reward for its first Tier 1 playoff series victory is, barring a monumental upset, a date with either the first-place Six Nations Rebels, perfect in the regular season at 20-0-0, or the second-place Elora Mohawks (17-3-0) in a best-of-five conference semifinal. The Regals and Clippers had finished the regular season with identical 14-6-0 records.
“Whoever is coming after us, we’re going to be ready for them,” coach Keleher said.
Six Nations leads the eighth-place Owen Sound North Stars 2-0 with Game 3 Friday night at the Iroquois Lacrosse Arena. The Rebels have outscored the North Stars 24-15 in the two games.
The Mohawks swept the seventh-place Cambridge Highlanders 3-0 and are awaiting an opponent in the conference semifinals.
The third-place St. Catharines Athletics lead the sixth-place Hamilton Bengals 2-1 with Game 4 slated for Thursday night in Hamilton in the other conference quarter-final.
In all reality the St. Catharines-Hamilton series is the one that will decide who the Regals play in the conference semifinals.
If St. Catharines wins, the Regals will play Six Nations and Elora will play the Athletics.
If Hamilton wins, the Mohawks and Regals will clash while Six Nations will play Hamilton.
- Guelph Sports Journal
Regals spin franchise history with win in playoff series
GUELPH – History, plain and simple. Franchise history.
When the Guelph Regals walked off the floor in a packed and sweltering Victoria Road arena Wednesday night, they did so having achieved something no previous team in the franchise’s 31-year history had accomplished. They were victors of an Ontario Junior B Lacrosse League Tier 1 playoff series.
Guelph Regals 10
Windsor Clippers 3
“It feels really good for the 25, 26 guys in that dressing room,” Regals coach Steve Keleher said. “They worked all year for it and it’s good to see. They played really well.”
The Regals dropped the Windsor Clippers 10-3 to complete a three-game sweep of the best-of-five Western Conference quarter-final series.
The series triumph came in the 20th ever T1 playoff series for the Regals. They did win a Tier 2 playoff series, a best-of-three affair, in 2000 when only the top four teams in the Western Conference advanced to the T1 playoffs and the other four battled in T2 playoffs.
The Regals pulled out the same script for Wednesday’s game that they had used in winning Game 2 in Windsor Sunday. They waited until the second period to pull away, this time turning a 3-1 lead at the end of the first period into an 8-2 advantage by the end of the second. Sunday, the teams were tied 2-2 at the end of the opening period and Guelph took a 9-2 lead into the third.
“They’re a really good lacrosse team and they’re fast,” coach Keleher said of Windsor. “Our job was to be faster than them and smarter than them.”
Ethan Keleher, Owen Orpana and league scoring champion Marcus Keleher had two goals apiece for the Regals Wednesday while the other goals were scored by Brett Vince, Charlie Boon, Trent Gilbert and Dallon Evans. Marcus Keleher had three assists while Dylan Davey, Boon, Ethan Keleher and Orpana had two apiece and Dylan Goddard and Vince each had one.
Max Frattaroli scored twice for Windsor and he assisted on the other goal scored by Niko Spewock. Grady Holmes had two assists while Callum Brennan, Spewock and Mason Myers-Whiteye had one apiece.
The Regals outshot the Clippers 41-40 and went 2-for-6 on their power play while Windsor went 1-for-4.
Ty Fox-Trudel had 37 saves for the Regals including a pair of splendid stops in the opening period. Griffin Salaris had 31 for the Clippers.
The Regals had won the opening game of the series 10-6 Friday at the Victoria Road arena and they won 11-3 in Game 2 Sunday in Windsor.
Marcus Keleher collected a total of five goals and eight assists in the opening two games of the series while Orpana had three goals and eight assists and Goddard had six goals and two assists. Vince gathered three goals and two assists while Boon had a goal and three assists, Evans had four assists and Matthew Darroch had two assists. Netting single goals were Marcus Visentin, Cam Wheeldon and Ethan Keleher while single assists went to Fox-Trudel, Mason Walton, Davey, Zachary Wright and Tyler Beecraft.
Fox-Trudel had a total of 83 saves in the first two games.
Guelph’s reward for its first Tier 1 playoff series victory is, barring a monumental upset, a date with either the first-place Six Nations Rebels, perfect in the regular season at 20-0-0, or the second-place Elora Mohawks (17-3-0) in a best-of-five conference semifinal. The Regals and Clippers had finished the regular season with identical 14-6-0 records.
“Whoever is coming after us, we’re going to be ready for them,” coach Keleher said.
Six Nations leads the eighth-place Owen Sound North Stars 2-0 with Game 3 Friday night at the Iroquois Lacrosse Arena. The Rebels have outscored the North Stars 24-15 in the two games.
The Mohawks swept the seventh-place Cambridge Highlanders 3-0 and are awaiting an opponent in the conference semifinals.
The third-place St. Catharines Athletics lead the sixth-place Hamilton Bengals 2-1 with Game 4 slated for Thursday night in Hamilton in the other conference quarter-final.
In all reality the St. Catharines-Hamilton series is the one that will decide who the Regals play in the conference semifinals.
If St. Catharines wins, the Regals will play Six Nations and Elora will play the Athletics.
If Hamilton wins, the Mohawks and Regals will clash while Six Nations will play Hamilton.
- Guelph Sports Journal