Rocks doubled by Stratford to finish regular season
STRATFORD – The Elora Rocks completed their Western Ontario Super Hockey League regular season with an 8-4 loss to the Stratford Fighting Irish Saturday at the Allman Arena.
The teams were tied 2-2 at the end of the first period and Stratford led 5-4 after the second.
The short-staffed Rocks received two goals from Alex Uttley and one apiece from Nicholas Boehmer and Owen Robertson. Jeff White assisted on two of the goals while Mark Hamilton, Brendan Woods, Andrew Brubacher, Zack Cameron, Anthony Filoso and Robertson each had one assist.
Matt Fuller and Justin Murray each had two goals for Stratford while single goals were netted by Graham Brulotte, Steven DeGrott, Cameron Stokes and Curtis Nogueira. Colin Martin assisted on four of the goals while Cooper Leitch, Dylan Buckholz and Stokes each had two assists. Getting one assist apiece were Ray Robbins, Brulotte, DeGroot and Murray.
The Rocks had 13 players suited up for the game including two goalies while the Fighting Irish had 19 players.
Stratford outshot Elora 47-30 and each team scored a power-play goal.
Liam Austin had 39 saves for the Rocks while Darren Smith had 26 for Stratford.
Stratford and the Tillsonburg Thunder finished tied for first with identical 16-6-2 (W-L-OTL) records while Tilbury Bluebirds are third at 15-8-1, Petrolia Squires are fourth at 15-9-0, Alvinston Killer Bees are fifth at 14-8-2, Woodstock Lakers are sixth at 14-10-0, Strathroy Jets are seventh at 12-10-2, the Rocks eighth at 10-12-2, Delhi Flames are ninth at 9-14-1, Dunnville Aeros are 10th at 8-13-3 and Orangeville Blitz 11th at 3-21-0.
Elora, Delhi, Dunnville and Orangeville will be in the play-in series. The Rocks and Blitz will meet in one of the single-game play-in semifinals while Delhi and Dunnville will battle in the other one. The winners advance to the single-game play-in final with the winner advancing to the league’s best-of-five quarter-finals.
The league’s semifinals and championship series will be best-of-seven affairs.
- Guelph Sports Journal