Jeff Gard/Today’s Northumberland
After hosting the first two games at home, the Northumberland Stars are in control of the Greater Metro Jr. A Hockey League Russell Cup championship series.
Backed by a strong start and stellar goaltending, the Stars earned a 3-1 victory over the Wasaga River Dragons in Game 2 Saturday night at the Keeler Centre in Colborne, claiming a 2-0 series lead in the best-of-seven league final. Northumberland won Friday’s high-scoring series opener 7–6 in a shootout.
Tristan Miron led the way offensively, scoring twice for Northumberland. He opened the scoring at 8:53 of the first period – marking the first time since Game 1 of the South Division final matchup with the Durham Roadrunners that the Stars scored first in a game – and added a second goal midway through the second.
Wasaga answered late in the middle frame, with Anton Svensson converting on the power play at 18:08 to cut the deficit to 2-1, but any momentum was short-lived, as Dawson Hettiarachchi restored the two-goal cushion for the Stars just 51 seconds into the third period.
Goaltender Ivan Kremnev made 35 saves and Ryan Boon and Dario Alimonti each contributed a pair of assists in the win.
“The start was big for us tonight,” Northumberland head coach and general manager Alex McConnell said in an interview with Today’s Northumberland. “We’ve struggled to get going in the first period, but tonight we got the first one for the first time in awhile and we just kind of kept rolling after that.”
Despite the early series advantage, McConnell expects the battle to intensify as the series shifts to Wasaga Beach for Games 3 and 4.
“Two highly-skilled teams. They’ve got a lot of good players over there – they’re fast, they transition well, they breakout very, very quickly,” he said. “Going into a tough barn, too, a good crowd, really good community involvement there…it’s exciting for sure.”
McConnell also praised his team’s execution and commitment through two games.
“The puck movement, the skill level, just the commitment from these guys – it’s next level. You see it every night. It’s something that we pride ourselves on and something that we’re going to continue to do hopefully.”
Game 3 is set for Tuesday night in Wasaga Beach, with puck drop scheduled for 7 p.m.
RUSSELL CUP SCHEDULE
Friday, March 20
Northumberland 7 Wasaga 6
Saturday, March 21
Northumberland 3 Wasaga 1
Tuesday, March 24
Northumberland at Wasaga, 7 p.m. at Wasaga Stars Arena
Friday, March 27
Northumberland at Wasaga, 7 p.m. at Wasaga Stars Arena
Saturday, March 28
*Wasaga at Northumberland, 7:30 p.m. at Keeler Centre in Colborne
Monday, March 30
*Northumberland at Wasaga, 7 p.m. at Wasaga Stars Arena
Tuesday, March 31
*Wasaga at Northumberland, 7:30 p.m. at Keeler Centre in Colborne
Author: Pete Fisher
Has been a photojournalist for over 30-years and have been honoured to win numerous awards for photography and writing over the years. Best selling author for the book Highway of Heroes - True Patriot Love
