Eagles Win Family Day Clash with Lumberjacks

Article by I. Schoonderbeek/Photo by C. Archer

It wasn’t the prettiest of efforts, but two points are two points.

The Clarington Eagles spent Family Day afternoon travelling up Simcoe Street to take on the Port Perry Lumberjacks. While the Eagles were already locked into first place in the Orr Division, the Lumberjacks still had something at stake heading into the contest.

Port Perry needed a victory over the Eagles to keep their hopes of home-ice advantage alive in their upcoming first-round playoff series against the Lakefield Chiefs. The Eagles would dash those hopes, fending off a late Lumberjacks’ powerplay to hold on for a 3-2 win.

Port Perry would get on the scoresheet first late in the first period, taking advantage of an Eagles turnover at the blueline to walk in alone on Eagles starter Jude Rondina.

Clarington would even things up six minutes into the second. Kyle Shepherd stepped into a Brayden Hicks faceoff win in the offensive zone on the play and quickly snapped a high shot over the goalkeeper’s shoulder for his 15th of the season.

In the third period, the Eagles would finally break the game open. Seven minutes into the final frame, Trent Gaylor took a breakout pass from Cole Williamson and gained the offensive zone with speed. After gaining half a step on the Lumberjacks’ defender as he flew across the slot, Gaylor roofed a shot over the goalkeeper’s glove to make it 2-1.

Less than three minutes later, rookie Brock Mathieson tipped a point shot just inside the post for the eventual game-winner.

Port Perry scored midway through the third on the powerplay to get back within one.

An Eagles penalty with 1:23 to play provided the Lumberjacks with an opportunity to draw even in the final minute. Port Perry utilized their timeout and pulled their goalie for good measure, creating a six-on-four advantage. But the Clarington penalty killers did a masterful job limiting the scoring chances, and Rondina took care of the rest to earn his 20th win of the year.

“We had already won the division and they were still playing for home ice. They had a lot to play for today, and we didn’t…” said head coach Dean Baumhauer of his club’s effort. “We were getting outworked at the start. They (Port Perry) played last night at 7:30, so there’s no excuse in that respect for our guys. We weren’t ready. I thought we played a good second period and then got up 3-1 on them in the third.”

Team discipline was once again on the coach’s mind at the conclusion of the game. The Eagles were shorthanded four times in the contest and saw a potential man advantage negated by a retaliatory cross check.

“We’ve been talking about penalties, and we go out in the first and take an unsportsmanlike, and a neutral zone cross-check,” said Baumhauer. “We’re one of the highest penalty minute teams in the league. We have to reel that in and get our discipline in check.”

Despite the less than stellar Eagles performance, Baumhauer is confident in his group as the playoffs approach. “Our back end made a few mistakes today, but at the end of the day when we’re only giving up two goals, we’re going to be hard to beat. It’s going to get tighter for our forwards. They’re going to have to fight through checks and play the game the right way. But I think we’re in good shape.”

Baumhauer singled out the strong performances of Mathieson, who played an energetic game and Gaylor after the contest. Gaylor’s goal was his fourth in the past six games.

Gaylor admitted it wasn’t the easiest game to get pumped up for. “We’re not used to playing early games as it is,” said Trent. “Especially after it being moved from Sunday to Monday and missing a few guys who couldn’t make it. We got away from our game a little bit early on. But we ended up getting it together and came up with the W at the end of the day, and that’s all that matters.”

Clarington has two regular season games remaining before the playoffs begin. They’ll host the Georgina Ice this Thursday at home, before wrapping the season up on the road in Little Britain on Saturday.

The first round of playoffs begins on February 29th when the Eagles host the North Kawartha Knights at Garnet B. Rickard Arena.