An important stretch of three games for the St. Michael’s Buzzers that began on Friday night against the Upper Canada Patriots took on a little bit more significance after a North York Rangers win on Thursday night against the Newmarket Hurricanes. That win brought the Rangers to within one point of the Buzzers for seventh place in the West Division standings.

With a head to head matchup against the Rangers looming for St. Michael’s on Sunday afternoon, earning two points against the Patriots was essential to re-establish a small cushion on seventh place. In three prior games, the Buzzers have yet to be the Rangers this season.

“Coach DePellegrin stressed the importance of this game (against the Patriots) and guys ended up coming together, not only the first line but we also had secondary scoring today and that’s going to be huge going into the playoffs,” said Buzzers’ Captain Dan Ciampini. “It was good that we’re starting to practice those kinds of habits heading into the playoff stretch.”

To a man, DePellegrin’s message was received by the Buzzers as they turned in a commanding effort to build an early lead in the first half before cruising to a 9-2 victory, sweeping the four game season series against the Patriots.

“I don’t know if the score was really the big concern, it was coming here and getting the two points,” said DePellegrin. “The two points was our primary concern today and we came here and we had that in mind and only that in mind so we did the job that we came here for.”

A strong shift by the unit of Tyler Forbes, Harry Howlett-Ben and Elliott Burlon early in the game in which they cycled the puck effectively and held the pressure in the Patriots’ zone for well over a minute really set the tone for the rest of the game.

“That kind of a shift was pretty important just to set the tone for the team,” said Buzzers’ energetic forward Howlett-Ben. “I just wanted to get in there and help establish a forecheck that we could maintain throughout the whole game.”

Tyler Forbes put the Buzzers on the scoreboard at the 12:03 mark when he deflected a Blake Barbieri point shot past Patriots’ netminder Wes Annis for his ninth goal of the season.

Forty three seconds later, after creating a turnover at the defensive blueline, Howlett-Ben and Burlon found themselves on a two on one which they ultimately executed to perfection. Hanging onto the puck, Howlett-Ben drew the defenseman toward him before finding Burlon with a pass who let a hard wrist shot go to beat Annis to the top corner.

Late in the period, Dan Ciampini grew the lead to 3-0 when he jammed in his thirty seventh goal of the season at the side of the net. At the 18:59 mark, Erlich Doerksen got Upper Canada on the board with a point shot on a power play that found its way through a maze of bodies in front to elude Buzzers’ netminder Joe D’Elia.

St. Michael’s took control of the game early in the second period, scoring four times before the 9:56 mark to open a commanding 7-1 lead.

Ciampini scored his second goal of the game on a wrap around just forty two seconds in before Anthony Rizzo shovelled in a loose puck at the side of the net to snap a lengthy scoring drought. At the 4:52 mark, Mike Hawkrigg capitalized on some good puck movement by Dan Cameron and Kyle Morrison, leaving him with a tap in for his third goal in his last four games. Jesse Beamish concluded the offensive onslaught with a blast from the point on the power play – his eighteenth goal of the season.

“It was certainly positive that the offense was shared around,” said DePellegrin. “Some of the guys that haven’t scored in eight to ten weeks and more got on the score sheet today so that was positive for them. It’s good for their confidence going down the stretch and into the playoffs.”

When the game turned nasty with some of the Patriots taking some physical liberties, the Buzzers showed a willingness to stand up for each other, most notably when Alex Bezerra stepped in to defend his goaltender after Michael Sicilia upended Joe D’Elia while he was behind the net playing the puck.

St. Michael’s added two more goals in the third period to stretch the lead to 9-2. Lucas Lessio notched his twenty seventh goal of the season just nineteen seconds in before Mike Capicotto capped the Buzzers’ scoring at the 1:26 mark. On the goal, Harry Howlett-Ben earned his second assist of the game.

“It was good,” said Howlett-Ben, who turned in a strong, gritty effort. “It took a few games into the season to get it going, the season’s almost winding down but they all count and I’m just trying to make sure I’m contributing in other ways as well.”

Despite the lopsided victory, DePellegrin cautioned against seeing his team allow bad habits to slip into their game with two more pivotal contests coming up against the North York Rangers on Sunday and the Hamilton Red Wings on Monday.

“It’s a concern because when the score gets to where it was, they started taking short cuts, we started taking short cuts and the structure of what we’re trying to accomplish in terms of our systems and our forecheck and our backcheck and even how we run our power play gets compromised,” said DePellegrin. “Everybody’s cheating a little bit and that’s the frustrating part as a coach but it’s at times hard to avoid. It’s a little bit of a concern, no doubt, but I guess you take those offensive explosions when they come.”

An opportunity now exists for the Buzzers to put five points between themselves and the eighth place North York Rangers with a win in their head to head contest on Sunday afternoon. Realizing that chance, Dan Ciampini explained that only one outcome is acceptable.

“They’re right behind us so it’s mandatory that we come out with the win,” said the captain. “If we don’t, it’s going to catch up to us in the end and we really need those two points. For the whole weekend, we’re hoping to go with three wins in three games.”