On to the Next Round as East Conference Champs!

Article by I. Schoonderbeek & N. Schoonderbeek/Media by C. Archer

 

“On to the next round!” said Clarington Eagles’ owner Kirk Kemp after the club rolled into Napanee Saturday night and ground out a 3-2 win in front of 968 lively fans. They may be the PJHL East Conference Champions for their third consecutive season, but as Kemp pointed out, the time for celebration is short before the Eagles face the Hanover Barons in the Schmalz Cup semi-finals.

Like the previous contests in the series, Saturday’s game was another tight defensive battle, with on-ice real estate at a premium.

Napanee opened the scoring just past the nine-minute mark of the first period. The Raiders took advantage of the extra ice resulting from a five-on-three powerplay advantage with two Eagles’ defensemen in the box. Napanee scored just two seconds after the first minor penalty had expired.

But the Eagles evened things up before the period was out. Defenseman Kayden Hambly stepped into a pass from the corner in the offensive zone, blasting a shot through a screen past the Napanee starter. The goal was the rookie defenseman’s third in his last four games.

The clubs continued to engage in a defensive battle throughout the second period, with little room to maneuver in the offensive zones. With less than 5-minutes to go in the middle frame, Trevor Urquhart found Joe Boice streaking towards the front of the Napanee goal. Boice got his stick on the hard-centering pass to chip the puck into the top of the goal to give the Eagles a 2-1 lead heading into the final 20 minutes of play.

“Boice does everything; he’s playing hurt,” said head coach Dean Baumhauer. “For him to get a goal on top of the other little things he does, he deserved to be rewarded.”

Twenty minutes was all that stood between Clarington and the East Conference banner. But just over a minute into the third period, Napanee was handed a golden opportunity when the Eagles turned the puck over in the middle of a line change. The puck was immediately passed toward the Eagles’ bench, where four defensemen were on the ice.

“We took a penalty that can’t happen, obviously, with too many men. And then get scored on,” said Baumhauer. “But we knew we had to get another goal anyway. We weren’t going to win 2-1.” And so, with the score knotted at 2-2, the teams battled on.

Just before the 10-minute mark, Kyle Smith attempted to split the Napanee defense on a rush. Smith’s scoring opportunity went wide of the goal. But with support coming, he stopped in front of the goal and battled with the Napanee defenders to set up a screen. Meanwhile, the puck made its way to Jordan Shaw at the side of the goal. Shaw made no mistake burying the go-ahead marker.

 

With two minutes to play, Napanee pulled their goalie in favour of an extra attacker. They created several scoring chances in the dying seconds, including one goal-mouth scramble that saw the puck swept off the goal line by Eagles’ starter Oliver Webster.

“We just had to hold on. The refs put away their whistles, we won a couple of draws, and Webby was as great as he has been the whole series,” said Baumhauer of the tense finish. The Clarington defense bared down and got the job done to preserve the win. “Our back end, all six guys back there, played outstanding tonight.”

Owner Kemp is exceptionally proud of his team. “It’s pretty incredible to win three East Conference championships in a row,” he remarked. “Napanee showed a lot of grit and heart. But our guys worked hard and we squeaked out a win.”

And so, on to the next round. Unlike in the previous two seasons when conference champions played tournament style for the Schmalz Cup, this semi-final round will be a best-of-seven series. Eagles fans will have an opportunity to enjoy home games at Garnet B. Rickard Recreation Complex, while the Hanover Barons play out of the P & H Centre. Away games will be a hike, as the arena is 240 kilometres northwest from Rickard Arena, and is a minimum two-and-a-half hour drive without traffic considerations.

That long haul will not likely stop Eagles fans from showing up for away games. Many made the one-and-a-half-hour trek down Highway 401 to Napanee to cheer on their team in the second elimination game of the series Saturday evening. They won’t have to wait long to make the trip as Hanover won the coin toss for home-ice advantage in this series, so the first game will be played on their turf. Fortunately, the Eagles have won every away playoff game so far this season, so the superstitious amongst us have every reason to feel optimistic about what’s ahead.