The margin between the St. Michael’s Buzzers and the Newmarket Hurricanes to this point in their best of seven quarter finals series has been ever so slim. In fact, the biggest separation between the two teams cannot be found in any of the first three games, but in the margin that now defines this series: a three games to none lead for the Hurricanes. Small differences have combined to build a big lead for Newmarket.
The series has been ever so competitive with the Hurricanes winning all three games by one goal margins – including a 2-1 victory in game three – to build their commanding lead and push the Buzzers to the brink of elimination heading back to St. Michael’s College School Arena for game four on Tuesday night.
“I think the way the three games have gone; there were three bounces, three breaks, three turnovers that went their way but could have just as easily gone our way,” said Buzzers’ Head Coach Mike DePellegrin. “We’ve kept every game close; defensively we’ve played pretty well. Tonight, we were squeezing the sticks a little bit so there were some missed passes and a lot of missed shots on net but for the most part, we’ve emptied the tank for three games and played pretty well.”
Penalties did hurt the Buzzers though for the third game in a row as the Hurricanes scored both goals in game three while on the man advantage. Five of the seven goals they have scored so far in the series have come on the power play. Late in the first period, Newmarket scored the first goal of the game for the first time in three games when Jarred Connolly notched his second goal of the series.
The Hurricanes held most of the momentum in the first period in part because they were constantly starting with the puck, decimating St. Michael’s in the faceoff circle winning seventy five percent of the faceoffs taken.
The second period saw some improvement in that area as the Buzzers won forty one percent of the faceoffs and outshot the Hurricanes fourteen to six. However, anytime St. Michael’s challenged, Hurricanes’ netminder Jimmy Sarjeant was spectacular.
“Newmarket has controlled offenses all year, that’s why they’re the best defensive team in this league,” said DePellegrin. “They’re very good at keeping you on the outside, they’re very good at boxing you out and their back checkers are very dedicated so they come in and take the middle away every single time. The message in the second and throughout the third period was to crash the net and I think every time we did that, we created a scoring chance. Sarjeant played a hell of a game though and kept them in there.”
Thirty five seconds into the third period, Connolly scored his second goal of the game on the power play to put the Hurricanes up by a pair. St. Michael’s poured it on down the stretch, finally scoring at the 17:39 mark on the power play with netminder Joe D’Elia on the bench in favour of an extra attacker when Tyler Forbes shovelled in a rebound from the top of the goal crease.
DePellegrin noted that some frustration has set in on his team as they struggle to produce offense but reminded that a five man attack and not individual efforts will be required to get the job done at this point.
“Of course there’s going to be frustration when we’re on the verge of going down three to zip,” said the head coach. “Guys are pressing but the thing to keep in mind is that it’s got to be a five man unit that attacks and it will be a five man unit that scores. It’s not going to be one person to get it done at this point, not at this level.”
