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Tiger veterans Frasca and Ferrante fire two goals each to nuke North York 6-0 in OJHL action

October 16, 2026   ·   0 Comments

Nick Frasca and Nic Ferrante fired two goals each and Colby Booth-Housego delivered a perfect 31-save performance to pace the Aurora Junior Tigers to a 6-0 win over the North York Rangers on Friday night at the ACC.

Head Coach Ilir Mehmeti defined succinctly the difference between his team’s winning effort versus North York and his squad’s pair of losses to Mississauga and King at the OJHL Showcase in Niagara Falls earlier in the week:  “We played well for all 60 minutes tonight. [Against the Chargers and Rebellion], we played poorly for 20 minutes during the two losses and it cost us – we didn’t capitalize on our chances.  Our special teams failed and we failed in the end. Tonight, we created turnovers on the forecheck. Their D panicked and it led to three of our goals.  All four lines rolled, we’ve been mixing combinations, and they worked well tonight, too.”

One of those combinations that worked very well for the Tigers versus the Rangers was the trio of Anris Bundzenieks, Nic Ferrante, and Thomas Leone. The newly-established line scored a pair of goals three minutes apart—both of which were created by aggressive forechecking.

Thirteen minutes into the second period, the trio built upon a 2-0 Tigers’ lead when Bundzenieks picked off an egregious giveaway between the circles and slid a perfect pass to Ferrante who made no mistake.

The Aurora resident’s one-timer bulged the twine behind Isaac Gravelle to give the home side a three-goal cushion.

Three minutes later on an identical play, Bundzenieks, Ferrante, and Leone clicked again when the big Tigers Captain stole an errant pass off the left wing, feathered a feed between defenders on to Ferrante’s tape, and the cagy veteran snapped the puck past Gravelle to stake Aurora to a 4-0 lead.

Linemate Leone earned assists on both goals due to his diligent dislodging of pucks from the North York defenders.

Coach Mehmeti was pleased with the line’s productive eight-point evening versus North York: “They’ve been skating together for a few games. We have an abundance of centres on this team – so Ferrante was ready to make the transition from centre to wing. I’ve been juggling lines—trying to find combinations that work for the team—and they had three goals together versus King, too.”

Bundzenieks and Ferrante earned assists on the Tigers’ knockout punch five minutes into the third period. The Dynamic Duo earned their third points of the game on a set play that created so much puck movement that Frasca was able to sneak in from the blue line and fire the puck past Gravelle to make it 5-0 for the spirited home side.

Coach Mehmeti praised Frasca’s two-goal effort versus the Rangers: “Nick’s experience of playing at the next level has created his ability to read and react to plays.  It’s this skill that makes him a special player.  The second goal showed his skills at reading the opportunity and reacting to the play in front of him.”

Frasca’s first goal of the game also demonstrated the skills to which Coach Mehmeti referred.

Cradling Seamus Gund’s rebound off the end boards, the veteran defender moved in from the left point and one-timed the puck past Gravelle – staking the Tigers to a 1-0 lead 13:22 into the opening frame.

The Tigers got their second goal from another defender when Michael Murphy took a pass from newly-acquired Connor Hollebek and fired the puck from the left point. Murphy’s shot struck a combination of teammates and defenders in a slot scrum, deflected and bounced between Gravelle’s pads, and trickled over the goal line at 7:50 of the second period.  It was the rookie defenseman’s first OJHL goal.

Immediately after four of the six Aurora goals on Friday night, Booth-Housego repelled two-on-one breaks, breakaways, and myriad incursions by the Rangers to keep momentum on the Tigers’ side.  Booth-Housego’s timely saves were praised by Coach Mehmeti: “Colby had an outstanding season last year with St. Mary’s in Junior B.  He’s played great in his last five games. He’s getting better as the season progresses.  You can’t win hockey games without saves like those. He’s giving us crucial saves to give our team life.”

Another player that’s been giving the Tigers much life of late is leading goal scorer Max Skinner. The productive forward closed the scoring on Friday night. From the right circle, Skinner blasted Brayden Hinzel’s pass towards the net, it pinged off iron, and past Gravelle.  Skinner’s power play marker, initiated by smooth-skating, Tigers points-leader Javian Nei, was his ninth of the season and turned out the lights on the visitors.

An unfortunate incident later in the final frame led to a serious injury suffered by newly-acquired Xavier Rowe who was appearing in his first game with the Tigers after starting his season with Stouffville. The feisty forward—who turned in perfect PK performances alongside tireless skater Gianfranco Rosella versus North York—was involved in an endboards collision and broke his radius.  Rowe—who played last season with the Caledon Admirals alongside Hollebek– will be lost to the Tigers for over eight weeks.

Tempers flared after the Rowe injury.  With 1:47 left in the one-sided romp, the home side mucked it up with their frustrated sparring partners from North York in a series of on-ice brawls.

The majority of the punches were thrown by the quintet of spirited Tiger pugilists, especially Davis Castle and Sebastian Catalano, and the wee melee put an exclamation point on an emphatic home ice victory.

The entertaining Tigers have won four of their last five games, the crowds are growing at the ACC, and Yan’s $5.00 popcorn tasted even better during the home side’s emphatic win.

By Jim Stewart

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