Jeff Moore
Record Staff
EMBRUN — The Embrun Panthers and the North Dundas Rockets went into the weekend with their best of seven NCJHL series knotted at a game apiece but it turned out to be a busy weekend with three consecutive games. Game three was in Embrun on Friday night, game four was in Chesterville on Saturday night, before culminating back in Embrun on Sunday afternoon for game five.
Panthers 8 Rockets 4
The Embrun Panthers welcomed the North Dundas Rockets to the Palais des Sports on Sun., March 26, for game five of the best of seven NCJHL championship. The Panthers went into the game with a 3-1 series lead and looked to close out the series in five games. The Rockets needed a win to stay alive so they were battling for their playoff lives.
The Rockets opened the scoring at 8:59 of the first period when Shawn Simms fired one home from Liam Morrow to take a 1-0 lead. The Rockets made it 2-0 when Simms scored on a breakaway while they were short-handed at 11:06 unassisted.
The Panthers got one back at 12:08 as Nathan Bols sniped one from Adam Fillion and Justin St. Germain on the power play to cut the Rockets lead in half. The Panthers tied at 13:44 when Bols pounded home his second goal of the game from Cody Lavictoire and took their first lead of the game when Josh Renaud scored a short-handed goal at 14:10 unassisted.
The Panthers’ struck again while short-handed as Renaud took a pass from Lavictoire and was sprung on a breakaway from centre ice at 15:15 taking a two-goal lead. The Panthers took a 4-2 lead into the first intermission. The Rockets got to within one when Simms completed his hat trick from Morrow at 4:06.
The Panthers made it 5-3 when Lavictoire rifled one home from Fillion and St. Germain at 3:44 and 6-3 when Connor Roth slammed one home from Renaud and Michael Cogan at 6:23.
Roth scored his second of the game at 14:12 from Renaud and Justin Raymond and the Panthers took a 7-3 lead into the second intermission. The Rockets got to within two goals when Brandon Mullin scored his 18th goal of the playoffs to lead all scorers at 6:47 of the third period.
The Panthers closed out the scoring when Fillion scored his 11th of the playoffs at 16:41 from Bols on another short-handed breakaway. The Rockets had nothing left in the tank as the Panthers went on to take the game 8-4 and winning the John A. Cameron Trophy as NCJHL Champions.
Picking up the win in the Panthers’ goal was Reilly Tondreau and suffering the loss in the Rockets’ goal was Jason Buma.
Panthers 8 Rockets 5
The North Dundas Rockets welcomed the Embrun Panthers to the Chesterville Arena on Sat., March 25, for game four of the best of seven NCJHL championship. The Rockets went into the game trailing in the series 2-1 and looked to even it up. With a win, the Panthers would take a 3-1 series lead with a chance to win it at home.
The Rockets opened the scoring when Bryden Van Kessel slapped one home from the blue line through a screen in front of the net at 3:55 of the first period from Dylan Nixon and Shawn Simms to take a 1-0 lead. The Rockets made it 2-0 as Simms slammed home a nice pass from Dylan Marshall and Tyler Cayen at 5:57 via the power play.
The Rockets took a three-goal lead when Liam Morrow batted one to the back of the net from Van Kessel and Simms at 13:10 again on the power play. The Rockets took advantage of another Panther penalty at 16:30 when Brandon Mullin fired one home from Landon Veenstra and Simms.
The Rockets took a late first-period penalty and the Panthers capitalized as Josh Renaud blasted one high blocker side with just 49 seconds remaining from Connor Roth. It looked like the Rockets were heading into the intermission with a 4-1 lead but Renaud scored his second consecutive goal with just 24 seconds showing on the clock from Michael Cogan.
The Rockets took a 4-2 lead into the first intermission. The Panthers got to within a goal when Jacob Marley’s shot found its way to the back of the net from Renaud and Roth just 1:34 into the second period on a power play.
The Panthers completed the comeback when Mikael Gibeault slammed home a juicy rebound from Sebastien Roy at 5:12. The Panthers took their first lead of the game when Cody Lavictoire stick handled his way through a crowd and roofed one to the top blocker side from Renaud and Marley with 1:56 remaining in the middle frame. The Panthers took the 5-4 lead into the second intermission.
The Panthers opened up a two-goal lead just 11 seconds into the third period as Renaud completed his hat trick from Lavictoire. The Panthers took the wind out of the Rockets’ sails when Roth scored at 1:59 to make it 7-4 from Kirkland Reaney.
The Rockets cut the Panthers’ lead to two when Mullin scored his second of the game from Simms and Morrow at 7:57. The Rockets pulled their goalie with over two minutes remaining but just could not get set up in the Panthers end and with 1:52 on the clock the Panthers made it 8-5 as Gibeault scored into the empty goal from Ryan Carbonette.
The Panthers hung on for the 8-5 victory heading home with a 3-1 series lead. Picking up the win in the Panthers’ goal was Reilly Tondreau making 34 saves on 35 shots after replacing starter Danik Gervais. Suffering the loss in the Rockets’ goal was Jason Buma making 32 saves on 38 shots.
Panthers 5 Rockets 4
The Embrun Panthers welcomed the North Dundas Rockets to the Palais des Sports on Fri., March 24, for game three of the best of seven NCJHL championship. The teams went into the game with the series knotted at a game apiece after the Panthers took game one 6-3 and the Rockets took game two 4-1.
The Rockets opened the scoring at 17:21of the first period when Tyler Cayen scored against his former team sneaking in from the blue line and snapping one to the back of the net from Brandon Mullin and Shawn Simms.
The Rockets took a 1-0 lead into the first intermission after a sloppy opening frame. The Panthers tied the game when Cody Lavictoire slid one home from Nathan Bols and Adam Fillion at 7:51 of the second period.
The Panthers took their first lead of the game when Daniel Cogan stole the puck at his own blue line after a Rocket giveaway while on a power play and went in alone and scored a short handed goal at 10:59. The Rockets tied the game when Mullin scored his playoff leading 13th goal at 17:20 from Joe Dykstra and Landon Veenstra.
The teams took a two-all draw into the second intermission. The Rockets opened the third period on a power play but the Panthers’ Josh Renaud stole the puck and beat a defender sliding one to the back of the net short-handed and unassisted just 25 seconds into the third period.
The Rockets tied the game again as Liam Morrow scored on a breakaway just after coming out of the penalty box at 5:51 from Veenstra. The Panthers retook the lead again at 8:14 when Justin Raymond pounded one home from Connor Roth and Jacob Marley but the Rockets evened it up at 9:30 as Tristan Staff scored his third goal of the playoffs as he powered a slap shot from the blue line to the back of the net from Dykstra.
The Panthers retook the lead again at 15:33 as Justin St. Germain snuck in from the point and went top shelf from Bols and Ryan Carbonette. The Rockets got their goalie to the bench in the last minute of play but didn’t get set up in the Panther’s end and failed to score with the extra attacker.
The Panthers took the game 5-4 and 2-1 series lead. Picking up the win in the Panthers’ goal was Reilly Tondreau and suffering the loss in the Rockets’ goal was Jason Buma.
