{"id":23137,"date":"2019-03-07T00:06:12","date_gmt":"2019-03-07T05:06:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/?p=23137"},"modified":"2019-03-15T12:45:35","modified_gmt":"2019-03-15T16:45:35","slug":"junior-a-tigers-down-a-game-to-rival-hurricanes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/junior-a-tigers-down-a-game-to-rival-hurricanes\/","title":{"rendered":"Junior A Tigers down a game to rival Hurricanes"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Jake Courtepatte<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Hockey Gods have shone down on the fans of the Aurora Tigers and Newmarket Hurricanes, giving those in attendance three tight-knit, action-packed games so far that sees the Hurricanes lead the series 2 \u2013 1.
\nGame One of the best-of-seven OJHL first round saw a whopping 110 shots split between the Yonge Street rivals in a quadruple overtime 3 – 2 Newmarket win last Thursday.
\nDimello Smith played the hero on his home rink five minutes into the seventh period of play, on the 65th shot directed at Aurora goaltender Lucas Durante\u2019s net.
\nJacob Ball and Tyler Davis each found the back of the net for Aurora.
\nNewmarket’s Adam Trotman told the OJHL the game reflects what should be a \u201ctough series.\u201d
\n\u201cWe don’t like them and they don’t like us,\u201d said Trotman. \u201cSo, there is a lot of emotion in every goal scored, hit thrown, puck blocked, save made etc. As a team, we are just looking to do what we need to do to get the job done.\u201d
\nAurora\u2019s Durante echoed Trotman\u2019s sentiments.
\n\u201cWe have re-found our scoring as of late and the boys are all in,\u201d said Durante. \u201cI can see this series going seven games with every game being a one or two goal difference.”
\nDurante\u2019s words rang true in one sense in game two of the series, a matchup dry of offense in a 1 \u2013 0 goaltending battle.
\nFatigue was clearly not a factor for he or his Newmarket counterpart Mitchell Weeks, with the only goal of the game coming off the stick of Davis late in the first period.
\nDurante\u2019s 21 saves were good enough to tie the series at a game apiece.
\nNewmarket was back on the offensive for Sunday\u2019s game three, outshooting the Tigers 41 \u2013 19 in a 5 \u2013 3 game.
\nA 2 \u2013 1 Newmarket lead heading into the final twenty minutes, the Hurricanes exploded for four goals in the third to skate away with the win.
\nA pair of fresh faces scored their first goals in a Tigers uniform in Noah Tooke and Kyle Heitzner, while Rhys Forhan also pitched in for Aurora.
\nOJHL analyst Joe Washkurak still sees the Tigers as a possibility to squeak out of the first round, despite losing leading scorer Joseph Mizzi to the professional ranks.
\n\u201cThey still have Ball, they still have Davis, they have some good players and can steal games. But if they can\u2019t wipe it clean, they\u2019re going to be in tough.\u201d
\nThe Tigers held a thirteen-point lead atop the OJHL\u2019s North division in early December and finished the season third in the division: eleven back of the Markham Royals.
\n\u201cThey will have to rally around the other guys in the room,\u201d said Washkurak. \u201cThey\u2019ll have to rely on Durante a lot.\u201d
\nGame Four of the series went Wednesday evening following press time in Aurora, while Game Five will swing back to Newmarket for a 7:30 p.m. puck drop.
\nIf necessary, Game Six will return to the ACC on Saturday at 7:30 p.m., while Game Seven would go in Newmarket on Sunday.
\nElsewhere around the NorthWest conference, the top-ranked Oakville Blades lead the Brampton Admirals two games to none, while the Buffalo Jr. Sabres are atop the Burlington Cougars two games to one.
\nThe Royals are all square at a game apiece with the Georgetown Raiders.
\nFor stats, schedules, and more information, visit www.auroratigers.pointstreaksites.com.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Hockey Gods have shone down on the fans of the Aurora Tigers and Newmarket Hurricanes, giving those in attendance three tight-knit, action-packed games so far that sees the Hurricanes lead the series 2 \u2013 1.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":23143,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-23137","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-archive"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/2019-03-07-06.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23137","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23137"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23137\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/23143"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23137"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23137"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23137"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}