Senior Saints ousted at Classic
Saints junior boys advance to today’s semifinals
Opening day of the 15th St. Peter’s Saints Classic high school hockey tournament wasn’t a kind one to the hosts.
The Saints varsity boys and girls teams were eliminated from playoff contention on Wednesday. Only the junior Saints are alive heading into Thursday’s playoffs at the 50-team tournament which features four boys and two girls divisions at nine ice pads.
The Saints boys have reached the Classic playoffs most years, including winning it in 2016, but went 0-2-1 in the A Division. The girls lost 3-2 in overtime to Brantford Mustangs to fall to 1-1-1 and out of contention.
Not even a school buyout for their second games at the Kinsmen Civic Centre could spur the two teams to victory. The boys tied Cobourg’s St. Mary’s Thunder 1-1 and the girls lost 1-0 to Gonzaga.
The boys lost 3-2 to Maxwell Heights and 3-2 to Holy Cross (Kingston).
“It really goes to show the quality of teams here in the A division,” said Saints coach Kevin Fitzgerald.
“There were a lot of one-goal games. We are a younger team that lost some firepower to graduation last year. We have a hard-working team with a lot of people who are sacrificing. We’re just not putting the puck in the net right now.”
The Saints girls beat Peterborough’s Holy Cross Hurricanes 4-0. They were up 2-0 against Brantford on goals 47 seconds apart by Kari Lynde and Mackenzie Evans. Brantford got one back late in the first, scored with 1:56 left to tie it and won on Nicole Kelly’s tally 51 seconds into overtime.
“We had some very valuable lessons here,” said Saints coach Wayne Clark. “They’re going to serve us very well when we’re at the OFSAA championships in March. In our second game in front of our school we didn’t have the start we wanted. As much as the other team worked hard we had a plan and we didn’t stick to it.”
Against Brantford, a team they lost to in the OFSAA bronze medal game last year, they failed to score on a six-minute five-on-three advantage.
“They’re a well coached team with quality players,” Clark said. “We started the way we wanted and had them on their heels. The twogoal lead is the worst lead in hockey and we had girls who got comfortable. We got away from the things we do very well.”
St. Peter’s juniors (2-1-0) will meet Levis (3-0-0) in semifinal play 8:15 a.m. at the Kinsmen. The Saints beat Holy Cross (Peterborough) 3-2, Maxwell Heights 2-1 and lost 6-4 to Crescent.
There are several Kawartha teams in contention.
In the B Division, Campbellford District Flames (3-0-0) advanced after three overtime wins. Haliburton Highlands Redhawks (2-1-0) also advanced. Campbellford beat McLaughlin 4-3, St. Charles 3-2 and Korah 2-1. Haliburton beat North Toronto 1-0, Crescent 3-1 and lost 1-0 to Bishop Allen. Campbellford meets Crescent (2-1-0) 8 a.m. at the Evinrude Centre while Haliburton advances to an 11:15 a.m. semifinal at the Kinsmen against an opponent to be determined.