Jr. B Royals Come Back To Win Series Over Renfrew
The Richmond Royals came up big when they needed to, shutting out the Renfrew Timberwolves 5-0 Friday, March 1 in the deciding game of their best-of-five first round Eastern Ontario Junior Hockey League playoff series.
After sitting in first place for the first half of the season, the Royals hit a big slump in January and finished the season in third place in the Eastern Ontario Junior Hockey League Richardson Division. Carleton Place and Arnprior finished first and second and earned a first round bye, leaving the Royals to battle with the sixth place Renfrew Timberwolves in a best-of-five series.
The Royals opened the series with a 4-2 win over the Timberwolves Feb. 23 at the Ma-Te-Way Centre in Renfrew.
The Royals jumped into a 2-0 lead in the first as Redi Johnston scored from Jackson Miller, and Tyler Branchaud notched a power play goal from Dylan Rorwick and Tyler Poitras.
Jackson Dallaire scored in the second from Cameron Donaldson and Zac Soifer to give Richmond a 3-0 lead.
Kosta Kastanias and Andrew Carter scored for the Timberwolves in the third, but Rorwick’s marker from Tyler Hames put the game out of reach for the Royals.
Sam Nolan stopped 30 of 32 shots for the win.
On Sun., Feb. 25 in Richmond, the Timberwolves bounced back in a big way and earned a 6-3 win.
Dylan Rorwick, Jackson Dallaire and Sam McElheran scored for the Royals. Dallaire, Giulio Carulli, Mayson Sam and Cameron Donaldson all had assists. Colton Lux scored a pair for Renfrew with one each going to Simon Kobylecki, Joshua Lalonde, Ryan Ladouceur and Andrew carter scored one each.
The Timberwolves took a 2-1 series lead the following night as they beat the Royals 4-1 in Renfrew.
Drew Russett had the Royals goal from Tyler Branchaud. Kosta Kastanias had the hat trick for Renfrew with Connor Jackson also scoring.
Wednesday Feb. 28, the Royals were facing elimination as they hosted Renfrew in front of a large and vocal crowd. They took a 4-0 lead but then allowed Renfrew to tie the score before escaping with a 5-4 win.
Christian White had an unassisted goal in the first to give Richmond a 1-0 lead.
In the second, Jackson Dallaire scored from Donaldson and White; Rorwick scored from Russett and Simon Yang, and Branchaud scored from Hames and Rorwick. Connor Jackson and William Herrick scored power play goals for Renfrew to make the score 4-2 after two.
The Timberwolves rallied in the third as William Herrick and Connor Jackson scored to tie the game at 4-4. With less than five minutes remaining, Trent Poitras netted the winner for Richmond from Hames and Rorwick.
Richmond goalie Ethan Dinsdale stopped 32 of 36 shots for the win and was named first star.
In Game 5, the teams travelled to the Larry Robinson Arena in Metcalfe, as the Richmond Memorial Community Centre was not available.
Once again, the Royals took a big lead on the Timberwolves, but this time, goalie Ethan Dinsdale shut the door as the Royals won the series with a 5-0 win.
The Royals wasted no time taking the lead, scoring twice in the first two minutes of the game. Dylan Rorwick scored from Tyler Hames 1:21 into the game, while 30 seconds later, Reid Johnston scored from Christian White and Danny Marsden.
In the second period, Tyler Hames scored on an unassisted goal for the Royals in what was the only power play opportunity for either team during the first two periods.
The Royals extended their lead in the third period. Tyler Hames scored from Rorwick at 11:26. Rorwick, who went into a playoff scoring slump last year, netted his fifth goal of the five-game series with a power play goal from Hames and Tyler Branchaud.
In the final minute, things got somewhat spicey as the relatively clean penalty section of the scoresheet was suddenly filled up.
With 50 seconds remaining, Ryan Hawthorne of the Timberwolves took a pair of roughing after the whistle penalties and a 10-minute misconduct for inciting the opponent. Parker Stretch of the Royals got one roughing after the whistle penalty and a 10-minute misconduct for inciting the opponent.
With 12 seconds remaining, Kolton Osipenko of the Timberwolves and Leo Kluchert of the Royals were both sent off for roughing.
Ethan Dinsdale of the Royals was the game’s first star, making 38 saves in the shutout. Tyler Hames was the second star, while Renfrew goalie Braxton Bennett was the third star.
