NEWS

(pictured - The Toronto Lakeshore Patriots are the 2013-14 Ontario Junior Hockey League champions and will represent the OJHL at the 2014 Dudley-Hewitt Cup, Central Canadian Junior 'A' Championship, hosted by the Wellington Dukes, from April 29-May 3, 2014 - photo credit: Andy Corneau/OJHL Images)

Evan Buitenhuis had a standout game with 31 saves, and the Toronto Lakeshore Patriots beat the Aurora Tigers 3-1 to capture the franchise's first-ever OJHL Championship and Buckland Cup title with a six game series victory.

It was Andy Munroe getting the start for the second game in a row for Aurora, while the ever-steady Evan Buitenhuis was back between the pipes for the Patriots.

Easter Sunday or not, game six of the 2014 OJHL Championship Series proved to be the fastest, most hard-hitting and exciting game of the 2013-14 OJHL season with both teams laying it all on the line in the most important game of their young careers.  Both clubs came out flying with the visiting Tigers holding the edge in play early in the game, ultimately outshooting the home side 15-11 in the frame.  It would be the Tigers that would open the scoring on a defensive miscue by Patriots rearguard Tyler Currie, as his clearing attempt was picked off just inside the blueline by Drake Board, who then found a streaking Curtis Warren in the slot and he made no mistake, firing one just inside the post for an early 1-0 lead.  It was Warren's team-leading 11th of the post-season.  A few minutes later with the Tigers pressing again, Adam DiBrina went hard to the net, bowling over Buitenhuis to take a goaltender interference minor.  The lanky netminder shook off the hit to shutout the Tigers the rest of the way.  TLP would fail to score on the man advantage and it was 1-0 entering the break.

Period two saw Toronto Lakeshore hit their stride as they began to mount the comeback en route to a title.  Midway through the period, they finally broke the insurrmountable wall that was Munroe to knot the game at one.  Making up for his earlier miscue, Currie took a hard hit just inside the Pats blueline to hit Kevin Shier with an outlet pass.  Taking the puck deep along the wall, Shier hit the brakes at the hash marks and found linemate Nathan Feric all alone in the slot.  The sniper made no mistake firing one top shelf for his team-leading 13th of the playoffs.  With tensions high, the physical play began to take on an edge that would see a few unsportsmanlike conduct penalties called after numerous warnings from the officials.  Shots in the second were 10-8 in favour of the Patriots.

With the goaltenders both standing tall between the pipes, both teams used their size to try and get them off their games, but would trade goaltender interference penalties as both team's power plays came up empty-handed.  Toronto Lakeshore continued to pressure the Tigers and it was a matter of time before someone played the role of hero and found the  back of the net once again.  That goal came just past the midway point of the period with the puck bouncing around the slot in a scrum.  Aurora's Calvin Higley fanned on his clearing attempt and the puck squirted straight onto the stick of Luke Carter, who spun and fired a low, hard shot on Munroe.  After the initial save, the puck caroomed straight in front of the net where rookies Eric Williams and Jacob Hayhurst were battling for position.  It would ricochet off William and past Munroe to give the Pats a 2-1 lead with the clock ticking down on the Tigers season.  Press as they may, Aurora was unable to knot the game and Marcus Rose iced the game with an empty-netter as the clock expired to give the Patriots a 3-1 victory and their first OJHL title.  Final shots in the contest were 36-32 for the home squad with Hayhurst and Buitenhuis taking starts one and two respectively and the Tigers' Andy Munroe named star number three with another impressive performance in the cage.

For the full game summary, please CLICK HERE.

Kevin Shier was awarded the Brent Ladds Trophy as OJHL Playoff Most Valuable Player after leading the post-season with 32 points in 19 games played; nine points more than his closest competition.  

Of note in the victory, defenceman Robert Powers captured his second Buckland Cup title in three seasons after winning with the Stouffville Spirit in 2011-12 and head coach Jason Fortier continued an impressive season that will see his Midget 'AAA' Toronto Nationals compete this upcoming week at the Telus Cup, National Midget 'AAA' Championship in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan.

Congratulations to the North-East Conference Champion Aurora Tigers on an impressive 2013-14 season and best of luck to the Toronto Lakeshore Patriots as they will represent the OJHL at the 2014 Dudley-Hewitt Cup that is being hosted by the Wellington Dukes from April 29-May 3.  For more information or to purchase tickets, please visit www.dudleyhewittcup2014.com.