Petes remain undefeated with win
Team effort in 5-2 win over the No. 5-ranked junior hockey team in Canada
Somebody’s 0 had to go.
The Peterborough Petes prevailed 5-2 over the Niagara IceDogs in a battle of the OHL Eastern Conference’s only unbeaten teams Thursday night before 2,427 fans at the Memorial Centre.
The Petes improved to 3-0 under new head coach Rob Wilson while Hunter Jones made 26 saves to pick up his third consecutive win. The Petes got goals from four different players in a full team effort.
The IceDogs, who slipped to
1-1, came in ranked fifth in the CHL’s Top 10 rankings. It was also the first game back in Peterborough for former Petes head coach Jody Hull since being fired in January and hired in August as the IceDogs associate coach.
The Petes outscored the IceDogs 3-0 over the final 40 minutes in grabbing sole possession of first place in the conference in the second week of the season.
Speed was on display from the opening faceoff as both teams came out flying pouring 23 combined shots on goal in the first period which ended with Niagara up 2-1.
Matthew Philip one-timed a shot past goalie Hunter Jones through traffic for the Petes’ first deficit of the season 3:04 into the game.
They replied 4:40 later when Brady Hinz tipped Chris Paquette’s shot past Colton Incze. It was Hinz’s third goal in three games.
Niagara went ahead at 13:32 when Ben Jones converted a backdoor pass from Philip.
An extended strong shift by the Petes’ fourth line led to the tying goal 4:08 into the second period as Chad Denault registered his first OHL goal. Denault grabbed a bouncing puck and cut in behind an IceDogs’ defender to deke Incze to the backhand.
Pavel Gogolev continued to be snake-bit in the goal area early this season lofting a shot over incze that struck the crossbar.
The Petes grabbed their first lead of the night 14:32 into the second on Liam Kirk’s second OHL goal. Zach Gallant chased down an IceDogs defender behind the net and stripped him of the puck then centered it into the slot where Kirk banged it home. The English import has three points in his first three OHL games.
Cole Fraser gave the Petes some insurance with 5:03 left in the third when he drilled a point shot deflected off an IceDogs defender and slipped past Incze.
Paquette finished the scoring into an empty net off Gallant’s pass for his fifth in three games.
The Petes are back in action at 7:05 p.m. Saturday when they host the defending OHL champion Hamilton Bulldogs at the PMC.
NOTES: The three stars were: 1. Liam Kirk (P); 2. Ben Jones (N); 3, Brady Hinz (P)… Hardest working Pete was Chris Paquette.