Tigers shut down Raiders, fall to Royals

The Aurora Tigers shut out the Georgetown Raiders 1-0 but fell to the Markham Royals 4-2 last week.

The Raiders are one of the best teams overall in the entirety of the OJHL. Their offense is currently ranked third, averaging 4.55 goals per game. Their defence is ranked second in the league averaging 2.18 goals per game.

Coming into this matchup, it was imperative that the Tigers give it their all and that they did.

Justin Biraben scored the lone goal of the match 54 seconds into the second period.

Biraben missed a penalty shot in the third period for a chance to go up 2-0. Uncharacteristically of any hockey game, a second penalty shot was given in the frame, this time to the Raiders. Tigers goaltender, Christian Filippetti, stuffed Brandon Kakei with one minute and 41 seconds left to go in the game and preserved his first shutout of the year.

Following consecutive 5-2 victories against the Royals earlier in the month, the Royals sought to serve a cold dish of revenge to the Tigers.

The Royals got things going in the first period thanks to a goal from Matthew Perciballi, just 47 seconds in the game.

Brad Barker made it 2-0 in the second period and Colton Krezeminski scored short-handed to increase the lead to three.

In the final period, Lee Chiang got the Tigers on the board but any momentum was immediately stripped away as Matthew Minichiello got the Royals' fourth of the game. Blake Frost added an insurance goal late.

In a tough matchup and against a team that desperately needed a win, the Royals poured on 39 shots on goal to pull off the win.

It was a scrappy game once again and it seems as if a bit of a rivalry is in the works between these two teams. The Tigers went 1-5 on the power play and the Royals did not capitalize on their four chances on the man advantage.

Kicking off their schedule for this November, the Tigers will be up against the Oakville Blades Friday night at home at the ACC before hosting the Brantford 99ers on Tuesday, November 9.

Puck drop tomorrow night is at 7:30 p.m. EST.

By Robert Belardi