Majors Head To Conference Finals After Win

Published on April 12, 2010 under Ontario Hockey League (OHL)
Mississauga St. Michael's Majors News Release


Ottawa, ON- The Mississauga St. Michael's Majors are heading to the Eastern Conference Championship after defeating the Ottawa 67's, 5-3 in game seven tonight at the Urbandale Centre.

For the seventh straight game in the series the Majors struck first and had a two goal lead on two different occasions in the game. Mississauga held off comeback attempts by Ottawa and pushed ahead in a deserving victory. St. Mike's took the lead at 9:16 of the first period after a goal from Jordan Mayer. T.J. Battani made a pass to Mayer and the veteran forward drove to the goal and beat Petr Mrazek to make it 1-0. The teams exchanged power play opportunities and in the final three minutes Mississauga went ahead by two. Kelly Geoffrey who made his way back into the line-up during the series was the goal scorer for the Majors. Corey Bureau jumped on the loose puck and sent a cross ice pass to Geoffrey who was all alone and beat a diving Mrazek. The first period ended 2-0 for Mississauga and the Majors were successful in stopping any flow to the game from Ottawa and broke up several of the 67's opportunities.

The second proved to be a tale of two periods as Ottawa managed to tie the game and turn momentum in their favour after a poor first period. Both goals came in the first six minutes from Cody Lindsay and Thomas Nesbitt. The first Ottawa goal was the result of a three-on-two break that ended in Cody Lindsay beating JP Anderson. Ottawa's second goal was a defensive miscue for Mississauga as they allowed Nesbitt to walk in and fire and weak shot at Anderson that took a bounce and went in. Neither team was able to break the tie and it would set up the final twenty minutes being the most important.

Mississauga struck first courtesy of Gregg Sutch. Sutch beat two defenders and skated to the middle of the ice and fired his shot past Mrazek to put the Majors ahead 3-2. Just over six minutes later the Majors grabbed their second two goal lead of the game. A scramble ensued in front of the Ottawa goal and Devante Smith-Pelly whacked in the loose puck to make it 4-2 for the Majors. Mississauga employed their shutdown style as time ticked off the clock. Ottawa did cut the Mississauga lead to one at 16:39 after a delayed penalty. Traffic gathered in front of the Majors goal and Ryan Martindale jammed it past Anderson. The comeback effort was ended under two minutes later when Casey Cizikas slammed the door on the 67's season. Riley Brace and Cizikas skated down the ice towards goal. Brace had no passing options so fired a shot on Mrazek, the goaltender kicked out a big rebound right to Cizikas, who converted the gift to make the final 5-3 for the Majors.

JP Anderson made 16 saves and grabs his third victory of the post season. Petr Mrazek made 29 saves and takes the loss for Ottawa. The Majors will now face off with the Barrie Colts in the Eastern Conference Championship beginning Wednesday night in Barrie. Here is a look at the complete schedule for round three:

Game 1: Wednesday April 14 @ Barrie 7:30 p.m.

Game 2: Friday April 16 @ Mississauga 7:30 p.m.

Game 3: Saturday April 17 @ Barrie 7:30 p.m.

Game 4: Monday April 19 @ Mississauga 7:00 p.m.

*Game 5: Wednesday April 21 @ Barrie 7:30 p.m.

*Game 6: Friday April 23 @ Mississauga 7:30 p.m.

*Game 7: Saturday April 24 @ Barrie 7:30 p.m. *-If Necessary

For more information or to purchase tickets contact the Majors office at (905) 502-7788 x.1. Check www.stmichaelsmajors.com tomorrow for a preview of the series between Barrie and Mississauga.

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Ontario Hockey League Stories from April 12, 2010


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