WATERLOO/CALEDONIA – The Caledonia Pro-Fit Corvairs went to Waterloo Sunday afternoon, confident that they were about to sweep the Siskins in Game 4 of the GOJHL semi-finals at the Waterloo Recreation Complex. But the Siskins weren’t quite ready yet to hang up the blades for the summer and beat the Corvairs 3-1 to stay alive, at least until Wednesday when the series continues with Game 5, in Caledonia.
Spencer Gourlay scored right after leaving the penalty box to give Caledonia a 1-0 lead at 3:30, assisted by Cody Brown. But Troy Lajeunesse tied it for Waterloo at 4:22.
Corvairs goalie Colin Furlong is the reason the score remained 1-1 the rest of the period. He saved a least 4 sure goals, and maybe more, to keep the tired looking Corvairs from being left behind by the Siskins in the first period alone.
Ryan Taylor scored what would prove to be the game winner at 1:23 of the second, while Furlong continued to stymie Waterloo shooters and Caledonia shooters couldn’t seem to hit the net, even when they did get great chances.
The Corvairs played with a lot more focus in the third, but by then, Siskins’ netminder Leo Lasarev went from good to wow, keeping the surging Corvairs from scoring.
As the seconds wound down, and with Furlong on the bench for an extra attacker, Taylor was handed the puck at his own blue line, which was intended for a Caledonia point man. He took a couple of strides over the centre line and casually fired the puck into the empty net at 19:36.
Saturday night in Caledonia, it took only 14 seconds of OT to decide the winner of Game #3 of the Surtherland Cup semi-finals. Corvairs’ Jordan Peacock did the honours from Connor Murphy and Kyler Nixon to win 5-4 and take a 2-0 stranglehold on the series.
Nixon scored first at 5:23, unassisted, but the Siskins came back with two goals to end the first period with Waterloo leading 2-1.
Spencer Gourlay evened the score at 2-2 with a powerplay marker representing the only goal of the middle frame. Nixon and Cody Brown assisted.
Peacock gave Caledonia the 3-2 lead with a powerplay effort from Murphy and Nixon, but once again Waterloo responded with Danny Hanlon’s second of the night.
Cosimo Fontana took the lead back, from Brier Jonathan and Mitch Brown but a defensive mistake by the Corvairs at 18:21 was capitalized on by Evan Buehler to send the game into OT, where Peacock played the hero.
The series opened last Wednesday at the Haldimand Centre in Caledonia with a 4-1 score over the Siskins.
The teams felt each other out in the first period, which ended in at 0-0 tie. Troy Lajeunesse broke the ice for Waterloo with a powerplay goal at 1:26 of the second period.
Connor Patton evened it up again at 1-1 from Connor Murphy at 3:39, and then took the lead with Ryan Blunt scoring at 10:59.
Cody Brown and Murphy added third period goals with Jordan Peacock, Kyler Nixon, Ryan Moran and Connor Patton drawing assists. Shots on goal were 49-22 in Caledonia’s favour.
The next night, April 10th, in Waterloo, the Corvairs had an even easier time with the Siskins with a 4-0 shut out win to jump into the series’ drivers seat leading two games to none.
