Eagles Clinch First Place in Orr Division

Article by I. Schoonderbeek/Photo by C. Archer

For the second time in as many seasons, the Clarington Eagles will enjoy home ice advantage in the first three rounds of the PJHL playoffs.

The Eagles already had first place in the Orr division locked up before their road tilt in Uxbridge Friday night by way of a potential head-to-head win-loss record tiebreaker with second place Georgina. The Eagles’ 7-2 win over the Bruins and Georgina’s 4-2 loss to Little Britain on Friday made the tiebreaker irrelevant.

It was the Bruins who got on the scoreboard first with a powerplay goal eight minutes into the contest. But the Uxbridge chances were few and far between the rest of the way. By the end of the first, Clarington was up 3-1 on goals from Jordan Shaw, Brayden Hicks and Trent Gaylor.

The second period saw the Eagles tack on three more from Nolan Matheson, Adam Klaas and Joe Boice. Mitch Davies added a shorthanded marker in the third.

Play got chippy in the third period. Ethan Schoonderbeek was ejected early for a fight with Ryan Shier after the Bruins’ forward made contact with goalie Jude Rondina in the Clarington crease. Later, impressive Eagles rookie Kayden Hambly and Bruins veteran Anthony Lamanna were sent to their respective dressing rooms with misconduct penalties after an altercation near the Clarington bench. With 10 minutes to go in the contest, the Eagles found themselves down to four defensemen. But the deep Clarington blueline proved to be up to the task.

“Overall, a great game. We talked about having first place locked up and still playing the right way,” said head coach Dean Baumhauer. “You could see what they were doing. Once we got up, they got frustrated. I liked Scoob (Schoonderbeek) sticking up for himself against Shier who is a tough kid. They started taking some liberties with Smith and Urquhart, and that’s why we picked up Joe (Boice). Joe went over to have a chat with their guys, and they wanted no part of him.”

“We’ve got to lock in our discipline again and get back to keeping it under five penalties a game,” Dean continued. “But I don’t have a problem with our guys standing up for one another. Especially when our opponents are playing completely undisciplined against us.”

An encouraging sign for the Eagles’ coaching staff has to be the improved offensive production throughout the line-up recently. For only the third time this season, the offensive duo of Kyle Smith and Trevor Urquhart were both held off the scoring summary. The previous two occasions coincided with Eagles losses to the Bruins and Georgina. Despite the big offensive guns being shut out Friday, seven different goal scorers found the back of the net for Clarington.

One line that had a jump in their step all evening was an all-rookie unit consisting of Hicks centering Brock Mathieson and call-up Owen White. The trio, who played together with the Clarington AAA Zone U18s last season, played a regular shift, consistently pressured Uxbridge in the offensive zone and played a responsible game in their own end.

Coach Baumhauer has always been an old school guy who insists on his rookies earning their minutes and playing the game the right way. The decision to not only play the young forwards together, but also insert a callup on the line speaks to the confidence the coaching staff has in the first-year recruits and their development as players.

“It’s a shot in the arm for us for sure,” said Hicks, who was coming off a four-point performance against North Kawartha the previous game. “It felt like we were buzzing around the offensive zone all game. We were putting pucks on goal, going hard to the net and keeping the play deep.”

White, who dressed in his fifth game this season, drew an assist on Hicks’ first period goal. Aside from having no name bar on his jersey, one would never know he was not a regular skater with the club. He fit in seamlessly with his former minor hockey teammates and showed no hesitation in throwing his weight around when things got a little rough on the ice. “It’s always easier to play with someone you’ve played with before,” said Owen with a smile.

The Eagles now turn their attention to Monday’s Family Day game against the Port Perry Lumberjacks. While the outcome will no longer impact Clarington in the standings, they should expect a tough challenge. The Lumberjacks are still battling it out with Lakefield for home ice advantage in the first round of the playoffs. Game time Monday afternoon in Port Perry is 4:30.

 

Other Eagles Notes:

Congratulations to defenseman Everitt Corniel who played his 100th regular season PJHL game against Lakefield on February 6.

Congratulations to forward Adam Klaas who scored his 100th career regular season point in the Eagles 2-1 victory over Port Perry on February 1.