Tigers look to find their “groove” after early season falter

October 2, 2013 · 0 Comments

By Jeff Doner

The Aurora Tigers know they are a good team, but seem to be spinning their wheels a bit as of late. Since the start of the season, the Tigers have been unable to string together two wins, which leaves them in the middle of the pack to start off the season.

The same thing happened last week, with the Tigers picking up a big 4-1 win against their rivals from Newmarket on Thursday, only to follow it up with a hard-fought loss to Cobourg on Saturday.

Head coach and general manager James Richmond is optimistic about how his team has played so far, considering they are battling some injuries to key players.

“Quite honestly, we’re missing three centres [Sikura, Boston and Warren] and I know injuries are a part of it, but we’ve got three scoring centremen out of the lineup for the most part of the season,” he said. “We’ve had two of our top playmaking centremen out, so we’ve been going along pretty well.”

On the defensive end, Richmond is pleased with the way his top six has come out of the gate and his goalies have also gotten off to strong starts. It’s the veteran forwards that he’s trying to wake up.

“I’d like to see some of the veteran players step up and get off to a better start – I think they have gotten off to a bit of a slow start. They have to step up,” he said. “Our veteran guys are not scoring right now. It takes a little while for the young guys to get their feet underneath them to start scoring, so we’re not scoring at the pace yet that I think we’ll end up scoring at.”

On Thursday, playing against Newmarket, former Hurricane Calvin Higley again proved his worth by collecting two assists, including one on Drake Board’s game winning, power play goal in the second period.

Callum Fryer, Kory Kennedy and Robert Angiolella added goals for the Tigers as well.

Goalie Andy Munroe had another solid outing in net for the Tigers, turning away 35 of 36 shots for the win.

Munroe has had the majority of starts thus far and has played admirably for the Tigers to start the season. With Kevin Entmaa also playing well to start the season, the Tigers find themselves in a good spot in net.

“At the beginning of the season we told them we would rotate the first two games and then we’ll go with who’s got the ball; if you’re playing well and you’re winning, then you’ll play the next game and that’s what we’ve done,” Richmond explained. “Munroe has looked really solid and now Entmaa will go this week and I’m really expecting him to step up. I think we’ve got a real good 1A-1B type scenario.”

On Saturday against Cobourg, the Tigers played another strong game, but didn’t have enough to come home from the College Showcase in Oakville with the win.

“We played well, but I think it was a bad call in the third period against us for interference that they kind of let go in the game all along,” said Richmond. “Then they called it against us and then they scored late just after the penalty ended.”

At the time of the call the game was tied 2 – 2 in the third, after Taylor McCloy evened the score for the Tigers with seven minutes left to play.
Just seconds after the team killed off an interference penalty, Cobourg scored to take the lead and did not give it up, sending the Tigers home with a 3 – 2 loss.

Veteran defenceman Kyle Liu has earned some praise from the coaching staff and said even though the makeup of the team is different this season, things will start to come around.

“It’s definitely different from last year because we had an older team. We had some over-agers, but now we have a lot of young faces and really talented guys,” he said. “It’s still early on, so they’re probably still getting used to the league, but each and every one of them has a lot of talent. Hopefully everyone can find their groove and we can get on a roll here.”

For stats, schedules and more on the Tigers, visit www.auroratigers.pointstreaksites.com.

Girls vs. Guys and even groceries in store as Tigers get back to community

With a new season already on the go, Aurora Tigers Jr. A hockey club is planning to once again get out into the community to take part in a number of events.
On Friday, October 4, at 7:30 p.m., the Tigers will face some tough competition, when they lace up to face the Central York Girls Jr. A hockey team. It will be a fun evening of competitive hockey and Aurora Mayor Geoffrey Dawe will also be making an appearance. Adult tickets are $10 and $5 for seniors and students. Proceeds from the box office will go to the Southlake Regional Health Centre.
The very next day, Saturday, October 5 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., the Tigers will have a chance to brush up on their grocery packing skills, as the team will make their second annual appearance at The Real Canadian Superstore at St. John’s Sideroad and Bayview Avenue. Players will be there to help customers load up their groceries.
On Saturday, October 12, the Tigers will try on some different colours for Pink in the Rink. The Tigers will be wearing pink for their game against Newmarket at 7:30 p.m. at the ACC, in support of the Southlake Regional Cancer Centre. There will be a silent auction, bake sale and Tigers-wear for sale.