TRENTON, COLLINGWOOD WILL MEET IN OJHL NUTRAFARMS CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES
Ryan Cook of the Collingwood Blues and Ryan Holmes of the Trenton Golden will renew acquaintances in the OJHL Nutrafarms Championship Series next week. (Photo by Amy Deroche / OJHL Images)
The upstart Trenton Golden Hawks and the high-flying Collingwood Blues will meet in the Ontario Junior Hockey League’s 2023 Nutrafarms Championship Series.
The final pairing was set following two nail-biters in the OJHL conference finals Friday night.
In Collingwood, the Blues broke open a scoreless game with three goals in the third period for the 3-0 win over the Burlington Cougars to take the series 4-1.
The hometown crowd of 1,225 watched Bryce Sutherland and Ikki Kogawa score even-strength goals. Spencer Young added an empty-netter.
Noah Pak recorded his second shutout of the postseason. The Yale-bound netminder and the Blues are both 12-1 in the 2023 playoffs.
In Wellington, Jordan Fuller scored unassisted at 2:29 of the second overtime period to give the Trenton Golden Hawks a 2-1 victory and a 4-1 series win over the host Dukes.
Barrett Joynt’s shorthanded goal at 7:24 of the first period gave Wellington a 1-0 lead. During the same penalty, Nathan Oickle scored at 8:18 for Trenton. That was it for the scoring until Fuller’s finale.
Attendance was 1,332.
Collingwood, who finished first in the Northwest Conference and second best overall, swept the Stouffville Spirit and Milton Menace before facing Burlington.
Trenton, fourth-place finishers in the South-East, eliminated the Cobourg Cougars in five games and then upset the regular-season champion Toronto Jr. Canadiens in seven.
Return to this site for the release of the 2023 Nutrafarms Championship Series schedule. The best-of-seven series must be completed between April 19 and May 2.
The champions of the OJHL will receive the Buckland Cup and a berth in the national championship tournament, the Centennial Cup, May 11-21 in Portage La Prairie, Man.
