By Jeff Gard/Today’s Northumberland
Logan Kelly scored 2:33 into overtime to give the Port Hope Panthers a 3-2 win over the visiting Campbellford Rebels in the opening game of their Provincial Junior Hockey League playoff series Monday night at the Jack Burger Sports Complex.
Campbellford trailed twice before forcing the extra frame when Connor MacGregor scored with 55 seconds left in regulation time. Nolan Stevenson scored a go-ahead goal to put the Panthers up 2-1 five minutes earlier in the third period.
Oz Paziuk opened the scoring for Port Hope on a power play less than five minutes into the contest before Adam Klass replied for the Rebels late in the first period.
Game 2 of the best-of-seven series will be played Tuesday night at the Campbellford-Seymour Community Centre. Puck drop is scheduled for 8:30 p.m.
All six junior C hockey clubs in the PJHL’s Tod Division have advanced to the playoffs this season. The top two – Amherstview Jets (24-4-1-1) and Napanee Raiders (22-4-0-4) – earned first-round byes while the other four square off in the opening round.
Port Hope placed fourth with a 14-11-3-2 record while Campbellford was fifth at 8-21-0-1.
The third-place Picton Pirates (16-12-0-2) are facing the sixth-place expansion Frankford Huskies (1-27-2-0) in the other series.
Kelly, a rookie forward, led the Panthers in scoring during the regular season with 21 goals and 21 assists in 30 games while Carter Clarke had 12 goals and a team-leading 28 assists in 30 games and Nolan Stevenson had a team-leading 24 goals along with 11 assists in 30 games.
In net, Sam Dingle – who earned the win Monday night – posted a 9-7-1-2 record with a 2.75 goals-against average and .910 save percentage in 19 games and Aidan Thompson went 5-4-2-0 with a 2.71 GAA and .915 save percentage.
Campbellford’s top three point producers were Benny Scarr with nine goals and 15 assists (team lead) in 30 games, Dryden Minifie with five goals and 13 assists in 26 games and MacGregor with 11 goals (team lead) and six assists in 26 games.
Since joining the Rebels in February after starting the season in Napanee, goaltender Mitchell Brown, who had a good showing in a losing cause Monday night, posted a 1-3-0-1 record with 3.32 GAA and .921 save percentage.
Eric Martin, who played for the Panthers during the 2018-2019 campaign, registered a 6-12-0-0 record with a 5.34 GAA and .869 save percentage this season in Campbellford.
During the regular season, the Panthers won four of the six meetings against the Rebels, though prior to Monday night’s game the two clubs hadn’t faced off since Dec. 11, just prior to the league having to shut down until February.
SCHEDULE
(Port Hope leads best-of-seven series 1-0)
Monday, March 7
Port Hope 3 Campbellford 2 OT
Tuesday, March 8
Port Hope @ Campbellford, 8:30 p.m.
Friday, March 11
Port Hope @ Campbellford, 8:30 p.m.
Saturday, March 12
Campbellford @ Port Hope, 7:30 p.m
Monday, March 14
*Campbellford @ Port Hope, 7:50 p.m
Tuesday, March 15
*Port Hope @ Campbellford, 8:30 p.m.
Saturday, March 19
*Campbellford @ Port Hope, 7:30 p.m
* – if necessary
