CALEDONIA – After pulverizing the Panthers of Pelham in four consecutive lopsided round-one wins – 7-1, 6-0, 18-0, and 12-1 – the competition is starting to get a little tougher in round two.
The Ancaster Avalanche will be the Corvairs next hurdle in their attempt to repeat as Sutherland Cup Champions this spring.
The Av’s swept the Niagara Falls Canucks 6-5, 4-3, 4-3 and 6-4 in a closely contested series.
Round #2 which begins Friday night in Caledonia, will see the Corvairs coming off not much more than a sparring match against a team far less talented. It will be up to Coach Mike Bullard and his bench staff to try and keep the iron hot after a week’s delay between series. In a game like hockey, it is easy to lose one’s edge after such an easy series and the delay between games, but General Manager Brian Rizzetto has no worries.
“We’ve got a room full of motivated guys,” he says of his team. “’Bully’ (Coach Mike Bullard) has been running all four lines all year and the guys know that if they are not working hard enough, there are others just as qualified, ready and waiting to get into the lineup on any given night.”
Other quarterfinal winners include the St. Catharines Falcons, (4-1 over Thorold), Welland Canadians (4-1 over the Fort Erie Meteors), Elmira Sugar Kings (4-0 over Brantford 99’ers), Kitchener Dutchmen (4-1 over the Listowel Cyclones), Stratford Cullitons (4-1 over Cambridge Winterhawks), Waterloo Siskins (4-1 over the Guelph Hurricanes), Leamington Flyers (4-0 over Lambton Shores Predators), Chatham Maroons (4-2 over the London Nationals), Sarnia Legionnaires (4-2 over St. Thomas Stars), and the LaSalle Vipers (4-0 over the Strathroy Rockets).
The Sutherland Cup is the Ontario Junior “B” Provincial Championship trophy. It is named after Captain James T. Sutherland. He was a hockey pioneer who was instrumental in the promotion of the Ontario Hockey Association at every opportunity. He became President of the OHA in 1915 and, one year later, first held the same office for the Canadian Amateur Hockey Association. He was known as the main source for hockey information as a coach and as a referee.
He introduced pre-season conditioning exercises and a coaching system. In 1919 on his discharge from the army, one of his first accomplishments was to recommend a trophy as a memorial to the young men who died in the First World War. From this came the creation of the Memorial Cup, emblematic of the Canadian Junior Championship, first awarded to the University of Toronto in 1919.
Sutherland dedicated his life to helping Canadians recognize and preserve the heritage of their winter sport. To his death on September 15th, 1955, he insisted that events in the town of Kingston in 1888 made that location the actual birth place of organized hockey.
James Thomas Sutherland is known simply as the father of hockey in Ontario.
CUTLINE:
The Caledonia Corvairs are more than ready to begin round #2 of the 2015 playoff season which begins in Caledonia Friday night, after blowing through Pelham 4-0 in the opening round. They will now face the Ancaster Avalanche in a best of seven series. File photo by Jim Windle
The Ancaster Avalanche and the Caledonia Corvairs are getting ready to face each other in the second round of the Jr. B playoffs after each team disposed of their first round opponents in four straight games File photo by Jim Windle
