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Home-ice golden in Jr. A final
Sports
Apr 09, 2008 11:11 PM
Another avalanche of goals sinks Markham
By: Jim Mason, Staff Writer
Home ice has proven to be a distinct advantage through the first three games of the Provincial Jr. A Hockey League’s championship series.
The Oakville Blades defeated the Markham Waxers 6-4 in Oakville Wednesday to take a 2-1 lead in the best-of-seven series. The home team has won all three games.
Game 4 goes Friday at Markham Centennial arena.
Markham, which gave up six unanswered goals in Game 1 Saturday in Oakville, allowed the first four Wednesday. The Waxers actually dominated the early going but didn’t score their first goal until 11:50 of the second period.
Markham fought back within one goal twice in the third period, at 4-3 and 5-4, but could get no closer.
Nick McParland had two goals for Oakville, including an empty-netter with 1:02 to go.
Just as in Game 1, Oakville chased Markham starting goaltender Kyle Rank, this time after allowing three goals on 16 shots in 23:20.
Corey Tamblyn, Kevin Hudes, Matthew Meszaros and Mark Cornacchia scored for Markham.
Markham vs. Oakville schedule:
1/ Oakville 6, Markham 3, April 5
2/ Markham 4, Oakville 2, April 7
3/ Oakville 6, Markham 4, April 9
4/ Friday, April 11, 7:30 p.m. at Markham
5. Sunday, April 13, 6 p.m. at Oakville
*6. Wednesday, April 16, 7:30 p.m. at Markham
*7. Friday, April 18, 8:30 p.m. at Oakville
* if necessary
The league champion advances to the Dudley Hewitt Cup, the central Canadian championships, April 22 to 26 in Newmarket. Other entries include the champions of the Northern Ontario (Sudbury leads Abitibi 2-0) and Superior International (Dryden leads Thunder Bay/Fort William 3-1) leagues, plus the host Newmarket Hurricanes.
The winner of the Dudley Hewitt will play in the Royal Bank Cup national championships May 3 to 11 in Cornwall.