Majors take a wild Game 1

Published on April 8, 2011 under Ontario Hockey League (OHL)
Mississauga St. Michael's Majors News Release


Mississauga, ON - The Mississauga St. Michael's Majors kicked off their second round playoff series this evening against the Sudbury Wolves. While it looked like the game would be a blow out early on, the Wolves made it interesting. In the end, the Majors held on for 8-5 victory.

The Majors scored early and often with three goals in the first period. The first came off the stick of Devante Smith-Pelly when he scored his second of the post season at 11:42. Dylan DeMelo and Rob Flick had the assists. Casey Cizikas returned to the Majors line up this evening and contributed right away. Cizikas had been out for over a month with a wrist injury, suffered against the London Knights on March 4. Cizikas scored his first goal of the playoffs in his first period of playoff play at 13:32 to make it 2-0 Majors. Smith-Pelly and Brett Flemming had the assists. With just eight seconds left in the first, Jordan Mayer made it 3-0 on his first goal of the playoffs. The scoring continued to be spread around as Chris DeSousa and Riley Brace had the assists. Shots on goal were 21-8 Mississauga after the first.

The Majors came out on fire in the second period with five goals in the first 13 minutes of the period. At 2:21, Smith-Pelly scored his second of the night, with Cizikas and Justin Shugg getting the assists. Just over a minute later, Corey Bureau scored his first of the post season with a shorthanded goal at 3:26. It took a little longer to score the next goal but Maxim Kitsyn put home his fourth of the post season at 10:24 on the powerplay to make it 6-0. Brace scored the Majors next goal on another powerplay at 11:56 to make it 7-0 and Chris DeSousa made it 8-0 at 12:43 with his second of the post season. The momentum shifted after that as Sudbury made a charge. Michael Sgarbossa broke the shutout and broke JP Anderson's shutout streak with a goal at 13:24 to get Sudbury on the board. Mike Lomas added one more for the Wolves at 19:16 to make it 8-2. The Majors outshot the Wolves once again in the second period by a count of 15-13.

The Wolves continued their charge back in the third period, giving the Majors a scare. Eric O'Dell scored his first of the night to make it 8-3 at 1:56. Matthew Campagna and Lomas had the assists. Sudbury pulled a little closer at 4:55 when Joshua Leivo scored a powerplay goal assisted by Andrey Kuchin and Michael MacDonald. At 10:09, Sudbury inched a little closer with O'Dell's second goal of the game, assisted by Campagna and Justin Sefton. Wolves fans were ecstatic as their team was marching back while Majors fans were starting to get a little nervous with the score at 8-5. That was as close as the Wolves would get though as the Majors held on for the game one victory. Shots on goal in the third period were 9-8 in favour of the Wolves.

JP Anderson was in net once again for the Majors and although his shutout streak was snapped, he did record his fifth victory of the post season, making 25 saves. Alain Valiquette played most of the game for Sudbury, although Jacob Riley did see just under 10 minutes of action. Valiquette made 32 saves on 37 shots while Riley made four saves on seven shots. The games three stars were Cizikas (3rd), O'Dell (2nd) and Smith-Pelly (1st).

The series continues on Sunday when the Majors travel north to Sudbury for game two. Puck drop is at 7:00 PM. Check stmichaelsmajors.com before the game for an announcement regarding the MasterCard Memorial Cup.

The series shifts back to the Hershey Centre on Tuesday for a 7:00 PM game. Tickets can be purchased at the Hershey Centre box office or online at ticketmaster.ca.

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Ontario Hockey League Stories from April 8, 2011


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