BUZZERS ONE WIN AWAY FROM TITLE

Press Release

Taking a 3-2 stranglehold on the series, after falling behind 2-0, the St. Michael's Buzzers hero on the night was 15-year old affiliate Mitch Marner of the Don Mills Flyers Midget 'AAA' organization.  The recent 1st round selection of the OHL's London Knights potted his first career junior playoff goal just past the midway point of the 3rd period to give his club a 3-1 lead en route to a 3-2 game five victory in the 2013 OJHL Championship Series.

The Buzzers, outshot for the fourth time in five games versus the Newmarket Hurricanes, received yet another stellar netminding performance from Adrian Ignagni, who stopped 43 shots for his third consecutive victory.

Period one would see numerous big hits with the receiver slow to recover to his feet, while the home side held much of the advantage, being thwarted time after time by 'Canes netminder Matthew Wintjes, who would stop 36 of the 39 shots he faced on the night.  Wintjes would stand on his head in the first as St. Michael's outshot Newmarket 15-9, but neither team would score a goal for the fifth period in five games.

A much more evenly played second period saw Newmarket captain Chris Chiste ring one off the post just 12 seconds into the frame, which was followed minutes later by a point blank pad save by Wintjes off of Joseph Berton.  The end-to-end action saw the Hurricanes outshoot the Buzzers 16-15 with both netminders coming up huge between the pipes.  The deadlock was finally broken with just over four minutes left to play as Troy Joseph sacrificed his body, taking a bit-time hit from defenceman Sean Walker while chipping the puck over the blueline, where OJHL Rookie-of-the-Year runner-up Jake Evans went in alone and beat Wintjes with a nifty cut-back, slamming on the brakes at the top of the crease to make it 1-0 Buzzers.  A late push in the period by the Hurricanes would come up empty and the clubs entered the third with a chance to play a third consecutive 1-0 contest at historic St. Michael's College School Arena.

Having failed to score a goal in the previous 86:12 of the series played at St. Mike's, dating back to late in the 2nd period of game one, Newmarket finally broke the drought as Ian Farrell picked up a rebound off a Kyler Nixon shot to beat Ignagni for his sixth of the post-season.  After a couple of point blank opportunities in the second, Joseph Berton restored the Buzzers lead just over two minutes later, chipping a back-hand in off a rebound for his second of the playoffs.  Cue the 15-year old.  Playing perhaps his best game as a junior thus far (six regular season & twelve playoff) in his young career, Marner jumped off the wall and fired a shot from the top of the slot high over Wintjes' blocker for his first playoff goal and second career Junior 'A' marker.  As the clock wound down, the Hurricanes pushed to close the gap.  Following a time-out, with the face-off deep and just over a minute left in the game, leading scorer Daniel Leavens won the draw straight back to the point where Travis Dermott fed it cross-ice to Kyler Nixon, whose low, hard shot would deflect in off the stick of Jake Evans to cut the lead in half.  However, the Buzzers would tighten up defensively to kill the rest of the clock and take home the 3-2 victory, setting up a chance to clinch the league title in game six.

Marner was named the game's first star, while Ignagni and Berton were the number two and three stars respectively for the Buzzers.

Game six will take place on Friday, April 19 at the Ray Twinney Recreation Complex in Newmarket with puck drop scheduled for 7:30pm.  The Frank L. Buckland Trophy (Buckland Cup) will be present as the St. Michael's Buzzers will look to close-out the series and clinch their first OJHL title since 2006, while the Hurricanes will look to stave off elimination and force a game seven on Sunday afternoon in Toronto.

 (Nathan can be reached at nathanfournier@mainehockeyjournal.com)