NEWS

(pictured - Georgetown's Josh Dickinson will be a key member of the Raiders attack as they try to beat netminder Tucker Weppner and the Buffalo Jr. Sabres - photo credit: Shawn Muir/OJHL Images) 

The Buffalo Junior Sabres, seeded eighth in the South/West Conference will have their collective gloved hands full in their series against the number two team in Canada, according to the final CJHL rankings- the Georgetown Raiders, number one seed.. It has been a record-breaking season for the Raiders with 94 points including 45 wins. The club scored the most goals in the League (258) and allowed the fewest (103) and lost just one game in their own rink. Their powerplay success percentage was the highest in the League at over 29 and their peanlty kill was second at 88.51%. Goalie Josh Astorino had the second best GAA with 1.93, 0.01 behind Stefano Durante of Cobourg and Jack Jacome won the scoring title with 91 points.

I had a chance to speak with Jack and he was very excited about his title-winning goal in the dying seconds of his club's last game of the regular season. He realizes the gap, pointswise and in the standings, between the two teams (in the four games between the clubs this season Georgetown outscored Buffalo 22-8) but says that after a rest to recoup and some strong practices they will be ready for the series. Buffalo are a hardworking club, he says, well-coached with a good system and they will be looking to pull the big upset. Over-confidence will not happen, he stresses. He singled out Brendan Dunning and Christian DiFelice as a couple of Sabres who can turn a game around. 

The main difference between this Raiders team from previous seasons has been the strength of their secondary scoring with Matt McJannet (21 goals), Keegan Blasby (16 as a Raider.) along with Andrew Court and Ryan Takamatsu who have complemented the 79 goals scored by the 'big three' of Jacome, Jason Dickinson and Jordan Crocker. The blueline core led by Austin Cho, Jake Payette and Matthew Thom are tough and mobile. 1A goalie Nick Latinovich, an ex-Orangeville Flyer joined the club late and despite that managed to post five shutouts in 13 efforts, quite the accomplishment. It's very hard to find holes in this squad and they are overwhelming favourites to advance to round two. For sure coach Greg Walters will not allow his players any degree of over-confidence.

The Junior Sabres ended the campaign with 23 wins and 50 points and their first round matchup with the Raiders has been set for a while. They had  a decent road record but were below .500 at home. A goal differential of -12 shows that they were in most of their games. Stability is the watchword for this club with only one deletion being made since the start of the season. Adam Tretowicz led regular season scorers with 23 while rookie Erik Urbank came through with twenty and Cameron Radziwon and ex- Burlington Cougar Michael Faliero had nineteen. Faliero had ten goals on the powerplay which was good for 20.20%, ninth in the League. Urbank, 17, led the way with 47 points and must be in consideration for League rookie of the year honours.

Experience is not an issue for this team as they have 8 '96's- Aaron Reinig, captain Dylan Fritz, Andrew Pizzo, Dunning, Radziwon, Faliero, Ryan Cox and goaltender Tucker Weppner. Consistency is something the Sabres have been striving for all season long and while goalies Weppner and rookie Alex Camarre have had some strong performances neither of them could seem to get on a roll. Highlights for Camarre were early season shutouts posted against Newmarket and Mississauga. The club was not able to build up any momentum going into the playoffs dropping five straight before eking out  4-3 overtime win over Newmarket in their final game of the regular season.

Sabre's coach John Tucker looks back to two years ago when his team took the Raiders to seven games in the playoffs.  He is looking to his veterans in the upcoming series.  The dressing room, he says, is full of heart, hard work and desire.  With guys like Michael Faliero, Brenden Dunning and Ryan Cox leading by example on the ice he feels his club will give a good account of themselves in this series.  He also noted the strong play of rookie Erik Urbank and feels that he will be a major key in this series.  During the season they have brought up some younger players and will not hesitate to use them against the Raiders if necessary.  Healthy competition between his two goal keepers, veteran Tucker Weppner and rookie Alex Camarre has helped them both throughout the regular season and he has full confidence in his starting goalie, whoever he chooses.

Long odds for the Junior Sabres to come out ahead in this series which many are picking as a sweep but as the old saying goes games are played on the ice not on paper and coach John Tucker will be expecting his club to find more spark in this series.

The South-West Conference Quarter-final playoff preview is written by longtime Hamilton Junior hockey supporter and OJHL website contributor Ron Valentine. Follow Ron on twitter - @ronandlynda