Monday December 6

Orient catch Hungry Hippos early in double rout

Ali Khanafer needed only eight minutes into the game to light up the Hungry Hippos on three quick goals for a commanding lead. Its not the kind of start you hope for when competing against a team-from the higher division. You always want to weather the storm and keep the game as close as possible. Instead, the opposite happened, and the Hungry Hippos were stuck playing-from behind the rest of the way. Ali Khanafer went on to add his fourth goal while E.Harnois chipped in with a pair. The second match was  a lot tighter with both sides taking less risks. Despite being undermanned, the Orient used an early goal that proved to be just enough to edge out their opponent. N.Comptois needed to be sharp in net to keep the Hungry Hippos off the score sheet. E.Harnois and S.Harchi would add insurance, and the Orient took care of phase one of a double header night.

(2)Hungry Hippos vs Orient(9)

(3)Orient vs Hungry Hippos(0)

G.DeMarinis hat trick drives comeback win

G.DeMarinis and the Dragons had a final frame to remember on Monday night. Even though the Dragons barely took the opener in the shootout, the second contest looked bleak for a club that didn’t seem in it. The Dragons didn’t help themselves giving up the middle which lead to three first period goals by the Assadi Classics. J.Pantelis had his hand on all three tallies that included a pair for himself. Sometimes when a team looks down and out, a single player can seemingly turn things around. In this particle case, G.DeMarinis was the Dragons answer to their non existent first period as the spark plug went into overdrive bagging three straight markers in only four minutes. Out of nowhere, this contest flipped on its back with the Dragons taking the lead. The Assadi Classics slowly lost their energy as the night progressed having to deal with a short bench. If they could have channelled it for a more defensive fourth period, the end result would have been different.

(5)Assadi Classics vs Dragons(6) S.O

(5)Dragons vs Assadi Classics(3)

S.Lachapelle tears it up for the Golden Knights

The Golden Knights opened a string of four consecutive games on Monday night. In their quest to remain unbeaten, G.Barrera kept that streak alive by netting the games lone shootout goal to kick start the night on the right foot. The Orient weren’t pleased dropping the result knowing they came that close to handing the Golden Knights their first defeat of the year. They did however have a second crack at it only to find themselves in more of a bind. After giving up the games first goal, the Orient went down 2-0 early in the second period when S.Lachapelle continued his tear. The forward had just come off a hat trick performance, and wasn’t done yet adding two more points en route to a 3-0 win. G.Pilon rebounded after a shaky second period by stopping all 16 shots his way.

(5)Golden Knights vs Orient(4) S.O

(0)Orient vs Golden Knights(3)

S.Lachapelle, Golden Knights celebrate unbeaten season in dramatic fashion

The Golden Knights just kept chugging along, beating everyone in their path, even on a back to back night going up against their division rivals. A four goal explosion in the second period solidified another win leaving them with only one more game in order to go undefeated for the season. It appeared that the streak had no end in sight, but the HBHA Seniors did cause some concern when they found themselves up 3-2 in the early stages of the final frame. Still, time wasn’t yet a factor, and both teams understood this with so much hockey left over. It perhaps came to no surprise that S.Lachapelle would have an impact considering how dynamic he was the entire night. He not only tied the game up ,but capped it off in a theatrical manner, beating the buzzer by only three seconds. No question he came in the clutch on many occasions, causing plenty of fits to the defense and especially the net minders. In addition to his impact, M.Labrie did his usual collecting a few more points.

(5)Golden Knights vs HBHA Seniors(1)

(3)HBHA Seniors vs Golden Knights(4)

Degenerates catch a break on a technicality

The Degenerates just tried to stick to their game plan, by keeping the ball while using their deeper bench to out run the RCGT Knights. Eventually that system worked as they ran the score on four unanswered goals. L.Folini gave a nice lesson to his defensive partners on how its done to score goals by netting three for a hat trick. Many thought it was going to be somewhat of a cake walk heading into the second game. Considering the way the game ended along with the fact that the RCGT Knights had only one change, the Degenerates may have taken it for granted. Both sides were deadlocked at four goals a piece with only five minutes remaining. And because of some penalty issues-from the two sides, the game ended at that point because the RCGT Knights didn’t have enough players to floor a team. If they had an extra player, they would have been on the power play and potentially taken the second encounter. It just went to show that anything can happen, no matter what the circumstances.

(3)RCGT Knights vs Degenerates(8)

(3)Degenerates vs RCGT Knights(0) Default

The SalumiVino player of the night goes to Sebastien Lachapelle of the Golden Knights. What more can be said for a player who stole the show in back to back games. The Golden knights capped off an undefeated season in large part due to Lachapelle’s five points in the opening encounter along with two clutch goals in the second match.

The Division 1 regular season came to an end on Monday night. Since the Golden Knights captured first place, they will be sitting and waiting in the final to see who comes out of the Orient vs the HBHA Seniors series. That series will depend on who shows up. Throughout the regular season,  the Orient never really had plenty of games with a full roster. If they don’t fill up their bench, the HBHA Seniors will punch their ticket to the final.