February 22, 2019 · 0 Comments
By Brian Lockhart
There are now four teams left standing in the Carruthers Division of the Provincial Junior Hockey League after the quarter-final round eliminated four teams from competition.
The quarter-finals got underway on February 5. The League champion Stayner Siskins emerged as the winner in their series against the Schomberg Cougars taking the series in five games. Results from that series were as expected. The Siskins finished the regular season on top with 31 wins – the Cougars finished in last place after recording 12 wins for the season. The Siskins will now go on to meet the Penetang Kings in the semi-final round.
The Kings dispatched the Orillia Terriers in six games in their quarter-final match-up.
It was a close series with the Kings returning from a 2-1 deficit to take the final three games. They won game six on February 17, with a 7-6 win to earn the right to advance.
The Caledon Golden Hawks won their quarter-final against the Midland Flyers in a series that went six games. The final game on February 16, ended with a 6-2 Caledon win to end the series. The Golden Hawks will now be up against the Alliston Hornets in what will be one of the best series of the playoffs. Alliston eliminated the Huntsville Otters in four games with three of those games ending in a shut-out for the Alliston team.
The Golden Hawks were in second place for the most of the season before a winning streak in January moved the Alliston Hornets ahead in the standings and dropped the Hawks to third place. The Hornets finished the regular season with a 29-11-2 record including two overtime losses. Caledon finisehd the season with a 24-16-2 record including one overtime loss.
As two pretty evenly matched teams, this semi-final series should be an all out battle to see who can get the edge and earn the right to move on to the Carruthers Division championship round.