11 Straight Wins!

Article by I. Schoonderbeek

The Clarington Eagles continued to fly Thursday night in their final regular season home game. They sent the season high crowd of 457 fans home happy with a 4-0 win over the Georgina Ice, their 11th victory in a row.

The fact the game had no meaningful impact in the Orr division standings did nothing to dampen the enthusiasm of the crowd. There were plenty of young faces in the stands for Minor Hockey Night. The energy of the fans was mirrored by the Eagles players on the ice, who outshot their opponents 52-14 in the contest.

Clarington opened the scoring at the 10-minute mark of the first period. Brayden Hicks centered a pass to Owen Manarin from behind the Georgina goal on the play. Manarin, who was making his first appearance in the Eagles lineup since January 13, snapped a perfect shot past the helpless netminder for his eighth goal of the season.

Less than a minute later Trent Gaylor banged in a rebound in the crease to extend the Clarington lead to 2-0.

A Georgina timeout after the Gaylor goal did little to slow the Clarington offence.

At the 15-minute mark of the period with the Eagles shorthanded, captain Mitch Davies outhustled a Georgina defender through the neutral zone creating a long breakaway opportunity. Davies opted for a backhand deke, tucking the puck around the goalie’s outstretched pad to make it 3-0.

The Eagles weren’t done there. With only three seconds on the clock in the first period, Georgina iced the puck to relieve pressure in their own end. Clarington used the offensive zone faceoff to their advantage. They pushed bodies to the inside of the ice on the faceoff before winning a clean draw. The puck was quickly moved to Davies at the right hashmark who snapped a high shot into the net just before the buzzer sounded for his second of the game.

The Eagles continued to dominate play over the final two periods but would not find the back of the net again.

Oliver Webster earned his PJHL leading seventh shutout of the season in goal for Clarington.

Davies’ two goals, his 20th and 21st of the year, marked a new career high. The contest also happened to be his 100th regular season game. “It’s nice to get to 100,” said Mitch. “I’ve been through a lot with this team the last couple seasons and we’ve had a couple deep playoff runs.”

Davies acknowledged Georgina did not come to town with their full compliment of players, opting to rest some important members of their roster on the eve of the playoffs. “They didn’t dress their full lineup tonight, but it was still important for us to send the message that we’re the better team. We’re the more experienced team, and we’re going to be ready for them if we meet them in the playoffs.”

If that playoff meeting between the top two regular season clubs in the division should happen, it will come in the third round.

Davies’ older brother Connor, a key member of the Eagles’ leadership group the past three seasons was in attendance to see Mitch reach his milestone. “It’s a proud big brother moment for me seeing him get to 100 games,” said Connor.

The elder Davies likes the Eagles’ chances of going all the way this season. “They’ve got a hell of a team here this year!” said Connor. “I think they’ve finally got all the pieces to make the run they’re looking for. Hopefully we see a championship banner hanging from the rafters at the end of it all.”

Clarington wraps up their regular season on the road in Little Britain this Saturday. Game time is 7:30.

The playoffs begin Thursday February 29 when Clarington hosts the North Kawartha Knights at Garnet B Rickard Arena.