Reds-letter day for hosts
Denis Morris opens OFSAA boys hockey championships 2-0
The Denis Morris Reds came into the Ontario triple A boys hockey championships Wednesday in St. Catharines with a chip on their shoulders.
They took the ice at Seymour-Hannah Sports and Entertainment Centre for their morning game against Barrie Eastview eager to prove they belong in the field of 16 on the basis of merit, not just because they are the host team.
Head coach Billy McLaren said the Reds are using their also-ran finish at the Southern Ontario Secondary Schools Association (SOSSA) won by Waterdown as extra motivation at the provincial championships.
“We’re coming in as the second one because we didn’t come to play at SOSSA,” said McLaren, whose team lost to Lakeshore Catholic in the semifinals.
“It gives them a little bit more juice I think knowing that we’re ranked a little bit lower that the other team.”
Waterdown, 9-1-2 in league, 25-5-2 overall; came into the three-day, 16-team tournament as the eighth seed, one ahead of the Reds, 6-1, league; 24-6, overall.
After coming out “hot” in a 4-1 victory over Eastview in their opening game in pool, the Reds started out slow against A.B. Lucas in their afternoon game.
“We were on our heels a little bit,” McLaren said after Denis Morris came back to beat sixthseeded A.B. Lucas by the same score.
“Everything went right about four of the six periods,” he said. “We played two bad periods today and we still ended up 2-0, so if we can string together three periods in a row we’re looking pretty good.
“It’s nice to get the two wins today for sure. We kind of built our own bridge here, and we’ll see what happens from here.”
The Reds, who close out pool play with an 8:15 a.m. faceoff Thursday against No. 4 seed Toronto Malvern, wants to complete some unfinished business at the Ontario Federation of School Athletic Associations (OFSAA) this year. Denis Morris wants to build on a disappointing fourth-place finish at last year’s provincial championships by winning a medal this time out.
“We kind of imploded in the bronze game,” McLaren said. “I think the boys thought we fell
short in the semifinals losing to St. Martin.”
Denis Morris is the host team, though not the home team. The Reds play their home games at Merritton Arena, but many players are used to the larger ice after competing at Seymour Hannah with their rep programs.
“They’re pretty used to this rink,” McLaren said. “It’s nice to play in a bigger rink, to set up power plays and penalty kills.
“It’s good to call it ‘home’ right now.”
Cole Yungblut, Parker Hendsbee, Peyton McIntosh and Mike Angrilli, an empty-netter, scored for Denis Morris against A.B. Eastview.
Providing the offence in the win over A.B. Lucas were Josh Di Francesco, McIntosh, Yungblut and Lobsinger, an emptynetter.
Owen Hendsbee got kicked out of the first game for an incidental match penalty. He initially was suspended for four games but the Reds succeeded in getting the suspension knocked down to two games.
“If we make it to the quarters, Hendsbee will be back.”
The St. Francis Phoenix opened the OFSAA double A boys championships in Collingwood with a 4-1 victory over Ottawa Immaculata and a 4-4 tie with Belle River before wrapping up pool play Wednesday night against Collingwood Jean Vanier.
At the triple A girls championships in Cambridge, the Blessed Trinity are 0-2 heading into their final preliminaryround game.
They lost 2-0 to Lawrence Park and 3-2 to St. Martin.