Trenton visits Haliburton to resume East final Saturday afternoon
The Milton Menace defeated the Leamington Flyers 4-1 in Milton Friday night to take a three-games-to-one lead in the Ontario Junior Hockey League West Conference final.
Game 5 in the best-of-seven series goes Sunday at 7:30 p.m. in Leamington.
Ashtyn Pacheco scored what proved to be the winning goal at 3:15 of the third period before 1,235 fans at Milton Memorial Arena Friday. The Menace added empty-net goals from Graeme MacAuley and Ryder Cali in the final minute to complete the scoring.
Cali, a member of the OJHL’s First Prospect team this season, scored the only goal of the first period at the 14:44 mark. The 16-year-old from Penetanguishene has commitments to North Bay of the OHL and NCAA Division I Harvard.
Leamington’s Nick Mahay had the only goal of the second, at 15:20.
The Flyers outshot the Menace 38-28, including a 26 -12 count through two periods. Carter Bickle, the former Oshawa General and Charlottetown Islander Canadian Hockey League netminder, earned the win. Bickle has a 1.93 goals-against average through 13 playoff games this spring,
If necessary, Game 6 would be played Tuesday in Milton and Game 7 Thursday in Leamington.
THE EAST
The East Conference final between the Haliburton County Huskies and Trenton Golden Hawks resumes this afternoon. Puck drops at 4 p.m. at the A.J. LaRue Arena in Haliburton.
Trenton leads the series two games to one.
Game 5 will be played Sunday at 6:30 p.m. in Trenton.
The Huskies, who normally play at the S.G. Nesbitt Memorial Arena in Minden, have been hosting playoff games in their adopted home rink in Haliburton this month. The Minden arena has been used as a warming centre following an ice storm that hit the area in late March. The Township of Minden Hills announced yesterday that “some regular and registered programming” at the Nesbitt Arena will resume Monday.
If necessary, the Huskies will host Game 6 on Tuesday. Game 7 would be played Thursday in Trenton.
The conference champs will meet in the OJHL Championship Series, which will be played between April 18 and May 3, for the Frank L. Buckland Cup.
The Buckland Cup champions advance to the Centennial Cup, May 8-18, 2025 in Calgary, Alberta.
