The Environmental 360 Solutions U16 Red Devils got a hattrick from Nate Rashotte with his third goal snapping a 3-3 tie in overtime when he stole the puck at his own blueline and broke loose to score on a breakaway as the Devils secured their fourth
victory in their last five regular-season starts on a 4-3 road-win over the North Central Predators Saturday afternoon.
Rashotte’s first goal evened the count 1-1 in the opening minute of the third period then his second gave Quinte a 3-2 lead, their first of the game, at 14:48 after Ryan Sherwin’s goal had erased a 2-1 North Central lead just over six minutes earlier. The only goal prior to the third period came in the second set when the Predators beat Lily Reid with the game’s first tally. The Preds also scored the final goal of regulation time, forcing the extra period at 19:31 of the third. Assisting for the winners were Cole Coughlin, Ty Leavitt, Cole Rowat and Henry Fisher while Quinte outshot North Central 35-25 including 16-5 in the second period.
The previous night in Barrie marked the Colts’ fifth consecutive win as they moved into a first-place tie with York-Simcoe at the expense of the Red Devils in the form of a 4-2 loss. The Devils controlled much of the play late in the contest but a momentary lapse early in the third period saw a Quinte lead, and the game, slip away. Following a scoreless first period Quinte led 2-1 heading into the final frame, but Barrie scored three unanswered goals in the final set, including two in a span of 19 seconds before the period was seven minutes old to take a 3-2 lead. After that, the Devils had the Colts bogged down in their own zone for most of the rest of the way. At one point Quinte had multiple shots turned aside by the Barrie netminder while the Colts were two men short. Barrie killed off another penalty later in the third before scoring into the empty net with 58 seconds remaining, only 37 seconds after Ayden Mullen was pulled for a sixth attacker. Despite their dominance over the Colts in the third period the Devils couldn’t net the equalizer and had to settle for the loss after running off three straight wins.
Mac Chisholm got the Devils on the scoreboard first at 5:14 of the second period, scoring on the powerplay. Just over two minutes later, with the score even 1-1, Fisher regained Quinte’s one-goal lead with a man-advantage, blowing a slapshot high into the net from forty feet out prior to the third-period slip. Blake Munnings, Isaac Tracze, and Nick Colson assisted on the Quinte goals Friday night.
Saturday’s triumph against North Central improved the Devils’ slate to 10-4-2-and-1 but the loss to Barrie kept them out of the top three in the OMHA East Conference. Barrie and Ajax-Pickering both nailed down wins on Sunday with Barrie taking sole possession of first place, while a York-Simcoe loss left them tied for second place with Ajax, two points up on Quinte.
ON DECK...the Peterborough Petes trail the Red Devils by a pair of points in the standings and they’ll host the Devils at 4:15 this coming Saturday at the Healthy Planet Arena in Peterborough. On Sunday the Quinte squad faces Ajax-Pickering at 7:15 in Ajax.