The HockeyStickMan U16 Red Devils had a home and away series this weekend with the Central Ontario Wolves.
The action got started with the away half on a rainy Saturday evening in Scugog. A fast moving first period ended scoreless, but it did not take long for the offence to get going in the second frame. Lauchlan Whelan picked off an errant COW pass inside the offensive blue line and Coen Lowry slid a pass over to Andrew Laurin who found the back of the net to get the ball rolling. Austin Pettey was up next intercepting an errant clearing attempt and burying his first of the year to put the Devils up 2-0 heading into the break. COW would get the next 2 goals to tie the game up early in the third frame. The Devils would get the next one as a Kallum Phillips rebound ended up on the tape of Ewan Dahle who hit Austin Preston at the side of the net for a tap in go ahead goal. A feisty last 5 minutes saw Jax Martin finish off the Wolves with an empty net marker with some help from Trent Clow for QRD to come home with a 4-2 win. Landen White stood tall in net to pick up the win.
Sunday saw the home half of the two game series and the action picked up right where it left off. QRD dug themselves out of an early 1-0 hole with Lawson Minifie potting 2 straight, the second being a short handed marker. Ewan Dahle picked up a pair of helpers and Austin Preston added one on the plays. COW would tie it up again before the end of the first. The only scoring action in the second stanza saw QRD go ahead 3-2 on an Andrew Laurin power play marker after some nice passing from Austin Ottenhof and Colton Dee. COW would take the lead 4-3 in the third scoring the next 2 goals. With an empty net, the QRD offence showed up when it matter most. The rebound from an Andrew Dewar point shot ended up on Lauchlan Whelan's stick who then slid it over to Laurin who tied the game up with 1:17 to play. The same three QRD players would figure prominently in OT as Laurin picked up a COW rebound and hit Whelan with a breakout pass to get the puck deep into COW territory. Dewar gathered the rebound from Whelan's shot and found the back of the net to seal the deal for the OT win. Nathan Ferriss was solid between the pipes for Quinte for the victory.
Another heavy weekend of top 5 matchups sees QRD defend home ice as the squad finishes off the season series with the York Simcoe Express on Saturday and the Barrie Colts come to town on Sunday looking to avenge their only loss in regulation time of the regular season to this point. Both games take place at the Quinte Sports and Wellness Centre with Saturday's action getting underway on the Mackay pad at 5:30 and Sunday's puck drop taking place at 1:30 on the CAA ice. Both games will be available for streaming on the Poskin Sports Network on YouTube.