So, do you want the good news or the bad news?
The bad news is the Jr. C Alliston Hornets didn’t win the Clarence Schmalz Cup title tonight at home as they fell 2-0 to the Essex 73’s and were shut out for the first time since the playoffs began.
The good news is they still have a chance to win it tomorrow night in Essex. We'll have live coverage here at www.allistonherald.com.
The extra good news? They’ve won twice there before in this series. And Essex? Well, they’ve only managed one win of three on home ice in this series.
It won’t be the celebration they were looking for, but things don’t look all that bleak for the Hornets headed into game seven of the provincial championship finals. Game time is 7:30 p.m. tomorrow night (Sunday) at the Essex Memorial Arena.
Read on for game six highlights.
First Period
The Hornets' Zenon Byblow was called for hooking 1:14 into the game giving Essex its first powerplay of the game. They had a chance at the wide open net in the first few seconds of the man advantage, but missed. After that the Hornets successfully burned off the rest of the penalty.
At the 4:23 mark A.J. Sweet scored his fourth goal of the OHA playoffs to give Essex an early and important 1-0 lead. Assisting on the play were Anthony Iaquinta and Gabe Gervais .
Alliston's Eric Shannon was called for interference at the 5:30 mark to give Essex its second man advantage in the first six minutes of play, but they did nothing with it again.
At 8:22 in Essex's Ducharme was called for tripping to give the Hornets its first powerplay of the game, but this time it was Alliston who came up empty despite the advantage.
The ref called coincidental two-minute penalities against Essex's Wes Tan for holding and Alliston's Michael Campeau for roughing 11:20 into the first frame.
Both the Hornets' Jon Porretta and Essex's Branden Robitaille have made some big saves between the pipes in the opening frame.
With 3:50 left in the first Alliston was called for another penalty, two minutes for slashing this time against Jason Farquhar, but the 73's came up with nothing in yet another powerplay chance.
Shots on net in the first frame were 7-6 in Alliston's favour.
Second Period
Ten seconds into the second frame Essex's Vince Santia was handed two minutes for holding to give the Hornets another powerplay chance. Byblow made a big shot on Robitaille for the Hornets but missed. Essex burned off the remainder of the penalty.
Lots of back and forth play and a few weak shots on both nets, but no scoring.
With 11:28 remaining in the second, Essex's Brad Lehoux was handed two minutes for interference to give the Hornets yet another powerplay.
At the 9:39 mark, Alliston's Ryan Algar was sent to the box for two minutes for holding the stick resulting in 53 seconds of four on four.
At 11:12 Alliston was called for a bench minor, a call the crowd clearly didn't like. Ryan Algar, one of the Hornets top scorers, was turfed for a 10 gross misconduct by the referee for an abuse of officials. Eric Shannon served the two minutes for the bench minor against the coaching staff in the box.
The Hornets burned off the resulting powerplay.
Then Alliston's Kyle McDowell was called for tripping as he poked at the puck to prevent a potential breakaway with just over six minutes left in the second to give Essex its seventh powerplay of the night. The crowd clearly didn't like the call.
Essex's Chris Warren was handed a two-minute penalty for roughing less than a minute later resulting in another 50 seconds of four on four action.
With two minutes left it was back to five on five.
Then R.J. Hotts scored for Essex unassisted with 1:56 left in the second. It was his fourth goal of the playoffs.
Shots on net total at the end of two were even at 13-13, but the penalites are another story. Essex has served 10 minutes on five calls, while the Hornets have spent 24 minutes in the box on eight calls.
Third Period
Essex's Chris Warren was called for hooking 2:44 into the third giving the Hornets their fourth powerplay opportunity of the game.
In the middle of the frame, Hornets' fans began a chant of "We want a goal."
A call of goaltender interference against Essex's Lehoux with 9:48 remaining gave the Hornets their fifth man advantage of the game.
With 5:29 left in the game, the Hornets were called for a two-minute bench minor for too many men on the ice, a costly penalty with just minutes left and a two-goal deficit. McPherson served the time.
There was a lot of rough stuff, a time out for Alliston and an empty net as Porretta hit the bench, but no more goals.
Background
The excitement was in the air all over town as the Alliston Hornets stood on the precipice of Jr. C hockey history on this rainy Saturday night.
At 5:30 p.m., a full hour prior to game time, the parking lot at the New Tecumseth Recreation Complex was already at capacity and the shuttle bus was busy ferrying fans from downtown to the rink.
All over town there are signs of fan excitement from real estate ads in the newspaper, to signs at businesses and area public schools like Alliston Union, all bearing the same mantra penned by The Alliston Herald more than two months ago when the Hornets quest to become all-Ontario champions began, “GO HORNETS GO!”
The Herald is carrying live coverage right here for those of you who can't bear to brave the four-hour drive to Essex. Remember to click your refresh button frequently for updates as game seven is played out.
