CALEDONIA For the third night in a row, the Pelham Panthers faced the humiliation of drawing the two-time Sutherland Cup Champion Caledonia Pro-Fit Corvairs in the Conference quarter-rounds.
After the Corvairs easily took the first two games 9-1 and 14-0, the steamroller continued Saturday night with a 9-0 cake-walk leaving game #4 set for Tuesday Mar. 8th, in Pelham. A Caledonia win would be the only merciful way for the slaughter to end. This game will miss our deadline but if there is such thing as a forgone conclusion in hockey, this would be it.
Saturday night in Caledonia, the shots on goal were a preposterous 80-10 with Mitchell Fitzmorris leading the point parade with three goals and two assists and Corey Pawley with two goals and two assists.
Caledonia coach Mike Bullard took mercy on his own goaltenders Liam Conway and Stephen Tierney who spent most of the night leaning on the crossbar looking bored and alone. Conway played half the game and Tierney the second half, but realistically, a sweater tied to the goal posts would have easily won the game just as well.
Friday night, in Game #2, at the Pelham Rink, the Corvairs continued the destruction of the Pelham Panthers, taking it 14-0, while outshooting the home team, a preposterous 81-9.
Adding points to their playoff stats were Matthew Hore (3G), Corey Pawley (1G,5A), Blake Luscombe (1G,4A), Jordan Brown (1G,3A), Quentin Maksimovich (1G,3A), Matt McCartney (2G), Chadd Bauman (3A), Davis Brown )1G,1A), Fletcher Bailey (1G,1A), Daniel Volpe (1G,1A), Tyler Hill (1G,1A), Matt Rimac (1G), Tait Seguin (1A), Todd Ratchford (1A), Mitch Graham (1A), Mark Sinclair (1A).
The Pelham Panthers kept the Caledonia Pro-Fit Corvairs below 10 in Game #1, Thursday March 3. Despite outshooting the Panthers, 79-9 the Corvairs couldn’t go double digits.
Scoring for Caledonia were Blake Luscumbe (2G,1A), Tyler Hill (2G), Tait Seguin (1G,1A), Davis Brown (1G), Mitch Graham (1G,1A), Matt McCartney (1G,1A), Quentin Maksimovich (1G). Corey Pawley earned three assists. Mark Sinclair allowed one goal on 9 shots, while Pelham’s Stephen Harvey was calling for oxygen after stopping 70 of 79 Corvairs shots on goal.
General Manager Brian Rizzetto explains why his team has been merciless against the Panthers. He says that since goals for and against will play a factor throughout the playoffs, he and his team are taking no chances and nothing for granted.
“I feel badly for them (the Panthers),” says Rizzetto, “but if they are going to play in this league, they will have to come up with a much better product on the ice.”
It would appear the Niagara Falls Canucks will be next in line for the Corvairs since they are winning their series over the Fort Erie Meteors without much of a problem.
