The Whitby Warriors felt the cold edge of a four-game sweep in the OLA Jr.A semi-finals on Saturday, July, 25th. Whitby did everything right enough to take at least one or two games. The problem is, their opponents happened to be the defending Minto Cup Champions, the Six Nations Arrows.
Leading the series 3-0, the Arrows were loose, in a good way, and composed, for the most part, as the Arrows moved on to the OLA Jr. A . final on the way to their goal of repeating as the proven best Jr. A team within Canada.
The Warriors, on the other hand, at times seemed in awe of the talent they were facing.
Austin Staats scored first at 5:29, only to have Warriors’ Austin Shanks take it away a minute later, and Ryan Keenan give them a 2-1 lead. It didn’t stand for long. The chippy first period gave the Arrows a man advantage moment that Staats took advantage of with his second goal of the contest.
That ignited a five-goal explosion spilling into the second period. Jake McNabb, Jordan Durston and Brendan Bomberry ended the first 20 minutes with the Arrows leading 5-2.
Bomberry scored again at 2:44 of the second period to make it 6-2, Six Nations. Connor Kearnan scored late in the low scoring second period to put the score at 6-3 with 20 minutes to go.
Staats scored his third of the game on a powerplay at 4:23. Bennett Drake led a last desperate charge scoring twice at 11:17, and again at 15:11 to close the gap to 7-5, but the Arrows hung on and Staats popped in his fourth goal for the 8-5 final score.
It appears the Arrows will face the Peterborough Lakers for the League Final, with the Arrows holding home floor advantage. The Lakers and the Brampton Excelsiors are fighting for the Eastern Division final with the Lakers holding a 3-1 advantage.
THURSDAY 23 – 12-6 Arrows Game #3 win
By the 6:22 mark of the second period, the Arrows were ahead 8-0 and by the end of the second, the Arrows Express were up 10-2. The Whitby Warriors made it a much more respectable 12-6, after a strong third period but made no difference in the outcome of Game #3 of the semi-final series.
The Arrows scored five powerplay goals along the way on 11 chances.
Austin Staats had an eight-point night with four goals and four assists while Brendan Bomberry scored three and assisted on four. Tehoka Nanticoke and Jordan Durston each added two goals and an assist.