A’s lose heartbreaker in OT
Calling the St. Catharines Jr. A Athletics defeat at the hands of the Whitby Warriors Wednesday night a “tough loss” would be a massive understatement.
The Athletics scored two goals in the final two minutes of regulation time to send the game to overtime only to lose 12-11 at Jack Gatecliff Arena.
The game was essentially what people in sports call a four-pointer. Whitby entered the contest with an (8-7) record, while the A’s came in at (7-8).
The loss leaves St. Catharines in seventh place in the eleven team league.
“We knew it was going to be a shootout,” said Athletics head coach and general manager Sean Allen.
“Whitby is a great team, they’re a top-three team right now, they play a complete, smart, game, but we’re very happy with how our offense moved tonight.
And you know what when you hit eight crossbars and posts in game, that’s just bad luck, and when you lose by a goal – that’s bad luck too.”
The A’s trailed 3-2 after one period of play, but led 5-4 heading into the third.
After the Warriors took a 10-8 lead at the 14:14 mark of the final frame Allen decided to pull starting goaltender Drayden Patey in favour of Nick Damude.
Jake McNabb, playing in his Athletics debut, scored his fourth goal of the game with 1:56 left in regulation to make it 10-9, and then Carter Zavitz would bring the crowd to its feet tying the game at ten 28 seconds later.
McNabb, acquired in a trade with the first place Six Nations Arrows at the deadline, is happy to be wearing an A’s uniform.
“I’m excited to get things going here,” McNabb said. “We’ve got a young team, and have a very bright future. I’m just glad to be a part of it.”
The 19-year old Owen Sound native, and Onondaga Community College student, finished sixth in junior A scoring last season.
“I’m good at setting picks to get guys open, but I really do like shooting the ball from the outside,” said McNabb who now has 18 goals and 29 points in 12 games this season.
“We’ve got two more years of Jake after this,” added Allen.
“We know what we wanted when we made that trade, and giving up someone like Garlent (former captain Holden Garlent) and we’re ecstatic with the play of him and Matt Kim.
We’re really excited moving forward.”
St. Catharines will play three of its last four games of the regular season on the road including two straight this upcoming holiday weekend. Friday the Athletics visit Peterborough Friday, then travel to Mimico Sunday.
“Despite losing by a goal tonight the guys are frustrated, however they can see the writing on the wall and things are going to start to fall in a positive manner,” Allen said.
“We’ll get this figured out. The message is simple, stay focused, and stay positive.”
A’s Acorns: Kealon Pilon, Tanner Vail, Drew Popodinac, Jacob McMillan, Zack Luis, Mason Kamminga, Mike Davies, Jacob Johnson and Connor Aquanno were scratched for the Athletics .... Zavitz now leads St. Catharines with 18 goals and 49 points on the season .... Former Brock Badger and Badgers Hall of Famer Shawn Williams is a coach with Whitby.