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The Streetsville Tigers playoff hopes will come down to York Toros last game of the season against the Vaughan Panthers. After successfully completing their final mission by defeating the Mississauga Terriers Monday 7-0 and last night 6-4, the Tigers received the help they needed from the West Mall Lightning as they defeated the Toros 4-2. That leaves the Toros and Tigers tied for the final playoff spot with the Toros having 1 remaining game tonight against the Vaughan Panthers. So far this season the teams both have wins against each. In Monday nights tilt against the Mississauga Terriers, the Tigers came out gunning with the 1st goal of the game being scored by Sean Covetti. On the play Corvetti turned on the afterburners and jetted past the Terrier defenders, who were on a power play at the time, and tucked the puck past the Terrier netminder. The Tigers 2nd goal of the game came from Justin Iskra who adeptly fired a hard shot through the “5-hole” from the face-off circle. In the 2nd period it was Mark Shiozaki’s turn to get on the scoring sheet with a low torpedo to the port side after a nice feed from the corner by Matt Raleigh. The Tigers then went ahead 4-0 as Adam Galbraith once again made his presence felt since returning from the injury list by banging away from close in a 2nd and 3rd effort. Just 20 seconds later Jace McGrath fired one past a fallen Terriers goaltender to make the score 5-0. Then 30 seconds later Adam Hiscock finished the scoring in the 3rd period on a nice pass from Dustin Hayward. The key to the goal was a transition created by a “BIG HIT” in front of the Tigers net by “D” Johnston (well that’s what his mother told me anyways?!). The final goal of the game was scored by Ryan Johnston, who out-hustled all of the players on the ice, grabbing the loose puck and burying it into the opposition net. Great job by Matt Emanuele between the pipes as he earned the shut-out by stepping up and answering any attempt by the Terriers. Final score was 7-0 for the Tigers. On Thursday night the Tigers went into the game once again knowing that it was “Sudden Death” and only a victory would be an acceptable outcome. Coach Emanuele and Canavan have worked hard all year with the boys and now it came down to execution, commitment and a little luck always goes a long way. From the drop of the opening puck the Tigers seemed a bit tentative but they were the 1st to get on the scoreboard. Mark Shiozaki turned on the “Flux-Capacitor” and fired one “Back to the Future”. The score remained 1-0 for 2 periods, it was just too close and you knew that there was something very dark lurking on the horizon. Sure enough while on the power-play the Terriers fired a shot from an impossible angle that somehow made it past Conor Clark, who would have strangled the post if he hugged it any tighter. 1-1 and potential elimination looming!!! Well from this point forward for the rest of the game it just got a bit wild with both teams go back and forth, scoring goals, almost expecting the other team to score after each goal. David Canavan gave the Tigers a 2-1 lead with at 9:56 but the Terriers responded right back to make it 2-2. Matt Raleigh responded for the Tigers to make it 3-2 but once again shortly after that the Terriers came back to make it 3-3. To continue the pattern David Johnston wristed a shot from the blueline that was nicely placed on the short side by the Terriers goaltender. Then at 6:09 Justin Iskra finally gave the Tigers a needed 2 goals lead. The finish the game and the season Ryan Johnston scored with only 19 seconds left to make the final score 6-4.
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