{"id":35870,"date":"2025-02-20T13:56:15","date_gmt":"2025-02-20T18:56:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/?p=35870"},"modified":"2025-02-20T13:56:17","modified_gmt":"2025-02-20T18:56:17","slug":"erik-powerss-40-save-performance-staves-off-valentines-day-massacre-in-tigers-tough-3-2-loss-to-surging-stouffville-spirit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/erik-powerss-40-save-performance-staves-off-valentines-day-massacre-in-tigers-tough-3-2-loss-to-surging-stouffville-spirit\/","title":{"rendered":"Erik Powers\u2019s 40-save performance staves off \u201cValentine\u2019s Day Massacre\u201d in Tigers\u2019 tough 3-2 loss to surging Stouffville Spirit"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

It was a mismatch on paper on Friday night between playoff-bound Stouffville and the young Aurora Tigers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The OJHL squads\u2019 records suggested that the game could be a bit one-sided for the fifth-place Spirit (27-17-4-0) matched up against eleventh-place Aurora (10-34-4-0). Stouffville carried momentum into the contest as their 7-3-0-0 record would indicate while the Junior Tigers\u2019 record was 2-7-1-0 record in their last ten. Additionally, Stouffville gave #1-ranked Trenton a spirited performance last week in a 2-1 loss and had knocked off two playoff-bound teams\u2014Pickering and Wellington\u2014prior to rolling into the ACC for their evening tilt on Valentine\u2019s Day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite these daunting metrics, the young Tigers showed much grit and determination in a narrow 3-2 loss to the surging Spirit at the Aurora Community Centre.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rookie goaltender Erik Powers\u2019s 40-save performance was a significant factor in the contest, including a 20-save master class in net-minding in the first period.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After Stouffville forward Lachlan Wells banged in a rebound past Powers to complete a precise 3-on-2 at 2:08, there were concerns among the ACC denizens that the rout was on. Four weeks ago, the Spirit scored early and often in their 10-4 beating of the playoff-bound King Rebellion \u2013 a brash demonstration of Stouffville\u2019s fire power.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, Powers prevented the hockey version of the St. Valentine\u2019s Day Massacre with impressive acrobatics, reflexes, and exquisite flashings of the leather to keep black-clad Stouffville off the board for 41 minutes of play after Wells\u2019s early marker.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The young Tigers also showed their season-long penchant for opportunistic scoring. The combination of 40+-save goaltending and timely scoring have been necessary ingredients for wins this season for Aurora.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Midway through the first period, rookie forward Lucas Tsaparis tied the game when he converted a nice goal mouth pass from Aurora resident Tristen Abel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tsaparis chipped the puck past Spirit netminder Masen Johnston to make it 1-1.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tiger defenseman Luke Howard earned his 19th<\/sup> assist of the season on Tsaparis\u2019s timely marker versus Aurora\u2019s traditional regional rival.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When Captain Nicholas Brady\u2019s first goal of the season gave Aurora a 2-1 lead heading into the second intermission, the 150 fans assembled at the ACC on Friday night could sense a significant upset brewing in Tigertown.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was also Brady\u2019s first goal as a Tiger. After receiving a nice set up from Michael Piao, the rugged defender fired a wrist shot from the left circle that beat Johnston cleanly to give his upstart squad a one-goal lead at 15:24\u2014shocking the contingent of Stouffville fans at the ACC into stunned silence. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The articulate Captain described his first goal of the season: \u201cIt felt great. The guys were happy about my first goal, especially our group of defensemen. Michael gave me a great pass off the boards and I was able to find the open space.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The youngest team in the OJHL held their one-goal lead with valiant effort through the second period and into the third until Griffen Boyle\u2019s unassisted goal\u2014a wrist shot off the left circle \u2013 at 2:20 of the final frame pulled Stouffville into a 2-2 tie. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Danny Thomakos\u2019s 16th<\/sup> of the season was the game-winner at 6:59. Thomakos converted Julian Demiglio\u2019s 34th<\/sup> assist of the season to complete a 2-on-1 break and give the playoff-bound Spirit a 3-2 lead. The feisty Tigers battled to the final horn, but could not manage the equalizer with the man-advantage and Powers lifted from the cage for the final fifty-five seconds of play.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Captain Brady was disappointed by the outcome of the game, but he expressed optimism about the club\u2019s future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNext year, we\u2019ll be more competitive.  We\u2019ve been getting better as a young club.  My job as captain is the keep the young guys going. I do my best to deal with each of them and I know they\u2019ve been down sometimes during a tough season. I think we have a great core of guys and I hope we can stay together so we can have a good season next year.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of those key players to be retained is Powers. Brady complimented the British Columbia resident for a strong effort versus Stouffville and for so many great performances since the 6\u20195\u201d netminder arrived in a mid-season trade with the King Rebellion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHe\u2019s an amazing goalie. Erik\u2019s always doing the right thing. He plays the puck really well for the defensemen, too.  He\u2019s definitely a nice goalie to watch.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Tigers\u2019 final two home games this season feature the twelfth-place North York Rangers on Friday, February 21 and the eighth-place Pickering Panthers on Saturday, February 22.  Puck drop for both will be 7.30 p.m. at the ACC.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Brock Weir<\/strong><\/p>\n\r\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"mail\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It was a mismatch on paper on Friday night between playoff-bound Stouffville and the young Aurora Tigers. The OJHL squads\u2019 records suggested that the game could be a bit one-sided for the fifth-place Spirit (27-17-4-0) matched up against eleventh-place Aurora (10-34-4-0). Stouffville carried momentum into the contest as their 7-3-0-0 record would indicate while the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[24,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-35870","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news-sports","category-sports"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3D2k4-9ky","publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-16 00:11:03","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35870","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=35870"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35870\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":35871,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35870\/revisions\/35871"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35870"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35870"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35870"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}