Presto Crest Peewee AE Boys advance to Finals of WOAA Playoff!!! The Presto Crest Peewee Boys AE team continued their second round playoff series in Goderich Friday. Strong goaltending and tight defence made up for a short bench and led to a 3-2 Kincardine win. The victory set-up a home and home series with Ripley, with Kincardine needing only one win to advance.
The Kinucks came out sluggish in Game 1 on home ice falling behind 4-1 after the first period, with Braeden Morgan scoring the lone Kincardine goal. The boys turned it on in second, with Morgan completing the natural hat trick, with assists on both goals going to Andrew Potter and Jakob Dunlop. Ripley scored late to take a 5-3 lead into the third period. Kinuck goalie Jordon Gauthier made a number of big saves to start the third to keep his team in the game and turn the momentum back towards Kincardine. Corey Howse and Kaleb Brough set-up Grant Stevens to pull Kincardine within one, and Brendan Murchie completed an end-to-end rush scoring five-hole to tie up the game. Ripley regained the lead but Morgan scored his fourth, from Potter and Murchie, to send the game into sudden death overtime. After scoring chances at both ends, Ripley notched the winner early in the extra frame to set-up a winner-take-all game in Ripley the following night.
Knowing they needed a better start than in the previous game, Kincardine came out strong in Game 2 and executed a tight checking game plan aimed at holding Ripley’s two high scoring centres in check. Craig Luinstra got the start in net and played well throughout the game holding Ripley scoreless until the third period while the defensive pairing of Ben Netzke and Alex Knowles frustrated Ripley’s forwards. Unlike Game 1, Kincardine jumped out to the lead on second period goals by Stevens and Potter, with assists going to Logan Wolfe, Brett Colhoun and Dunlop. Kincardine put the game away and punched their ticket to round 3 with goals in the third from Andrew Leschied, Dunlop and Potter for the 5-2 win.