Sports - May 7, 2008

Sudden death brings 73’s season to end

By Kevin E. Neels

It was indeed one heck of a series, one of the best in many years, but in the end the Essex 73’s came up just one goal short.

In game seven at the Essex Memorial Arena Sunday evening the Alliston Hornets’ Kurtis Brossard ended this long, hard fought series with a snap shot past 73’s goaltender Branden Robitaille at 8:08 of overtime to give the Hornets the Schmaltz Cup Championship.

It was a back and forth series with neither team having any success on home ice, with Alliston losing two of three and Essex dropping three of four. In the end, the 73’s downfall was their failure to finish around the net. Of course Hornets goaltender Jon Porretta had a lot to do with this. Essex had the better of the play in most of the games, had more shots, more quality scoring opportunities, but in the end it was not meant to be.

Game four was a solid effort by the locals in Alliston. Team defense was exceptional and offensive output was up. Wes Tan started things off early in period one, pulling Porretta out of position and sliding the puck into the empty cage on a breakaway. The Hornets responded with a power play goal four minutes later as Branden Robitaille could not find a rebound. Less than two minutes after the tying goal Dan Croft found a rebound of his own to put the 73’s back in front heading into period two.

The only goal in period two came off the stick of Gabe Gervais, a backhander that surprised Porretta.

Late in period three Robitaille lost the puck in his crease and Alliston jumped on this to close the gap to one. Essex ended up sealing this game less than a minute later. A lot of hard work by Cory Hamilton paid off as Gervais notched his second of the night on a three-way passing play. Final score – 4-2 Essex.

Game five in Essex went Thursday evening. For the first period and a half Essex dominated play in a big way but could not buy a goal. Essex fired 20 shots at Porretta in the opening 20 minutes but trailed 2-0.

A ton of hard work early in period two finally paid off for the 73’s as Chris Warren ripped a backhand into the top corner to give the club some life. Or did it?   You would never know it. Surprisingly, the 73’s seemed to fade after this goal. It was Alliston that took it to Essex after this goal. The back-breaker came in the final minute of the period when Essex failed to clear the zone and a Hornet was left all alone to deposit the puck past Robitaille.

Period three basically had Essex going through the motions as the visitors added two more goals to make the final 5-1.

“We have to keep our heads high,” said Sean Ducharme. “Focus on Saturday, try not to do too much, play like the Essex 73’s can play.”  

Wes Tan added, “We know what it feels like to lose. We have to put it all together for Saturday. The only difference I see between these two teams is they have more natural goal scorers and we need to limit their scoring chances.”

Saturday was another gem from the 73’s standpoint, a near perfect road game. Who would have guessed that Essex would score all they needed by the 4:23 mark of the opening period? Once again the defense was rock solid and Branden Robitaille made the big save when called upon. AJay Sweet scored the opening goal on a pretty three-way passing play with Gabe Gervais and Anthony Iaquinta for the only goal in period one.

R.J. Hotts increased the lead to 2-0 late in period two, intercepting a clearing attempt, taking a couple of strides then ripping a slap shot into the top corner glove side.

You knew that the Hornets were going to come out strong in period three as they certainly did not want to come back to Essex for a game seven. The 73’s knew that a storm was headed their way. Were they prepared?   Alliston had a few shifts where they held Essex deep for minutes at a time, the cycle game working exceptionally well. But, to Essex’s credit, they weathered the storm in a big way, shutting down the explosive Hornets offense. Essex held on for a 2-0 win and forcing a seventh and deciding game back in Essex on Sunday evening.

“We feel confident heading into game seven,” said Gabe Gervais. “This was a big boost for us. We need a good start tomorrow. It will be wild back there.”  

“When under pressure we seem to play our best,” said Mike Lepelaars. “We are confident but not cocky going into tomorrow. We need to win all the battles and, playing on a smaller ice surface, we need to think quicker.”

The largest crowd in the past few seasons, 1105 to be exact, packed the Essex barn in hopes of seeing the 73’s claim another OHA championship. It started well for the club, as the visitors were served an early penalty, and the 73’s Vince Santia capitalized on a scramble. Essex continued to dominate the remainder of the period but was once again stuck at just the one goal.

Alliston came alive in period two cashing a pair of goals to take a 2-1 lead. The first goal was a bouncing puck that eluded Robitaille and goal two had one of the 73’s defenseman turned inside out.

With less than ten minutes remaining in period three Kyle Deslippe was left all alone to be beat Porretta with a low shot to even things up. Neither team could finish it in regulation, so it was only fitting that this series would end in overtime.

In overtime the puck spent most of the time deep in Alliston territory. If fact the Hornets were guilty of icing the puck on numerous occasions. It looked like they were sitting back waiting for that one glorious chance. After a huge save by Porretta on a Dan Croft shot the visitors broke out 3 on 1. Using the other two as decoys, Kurtis Brossard let go a snap shot that beat Robitaille and ended the dream for this year’s Essex 73’s squad.

As expected nobody was too eager to speak after this deflating loss. In fact it was hard to find many dry eyes in the 73’s dressing room.

All in all this was a great season, one to be proud of. Tony Piroski and his staff did another outstanding job, considering that half of the team had been replaced from last year.

Congratulations to the Alliston Hornets, OHA Junior “C” champions for 2007-08. And thanks to both the Hornets and 73’s for a very entertaining series.

At this time the Essex 73’s executive and staff would like to thank all the sponsors and fans for helping with another great season. Without you all this would not be possible. See you all next season.

Upcoming events:

Essex 73’s annual banquet and awards dinner – May 13 at Essex Legion

For tickets see any 73’s executive.