Jr. Stars finish round robin first

  St. Thomas goes into semifinals undefeated at OHF Atom A championship

Saturday, April 14, 2018

  

By Rob J. Ross 

ETOBICOKE, ON -  Thanks to their depth in scoring, the St. Thomas Jr. Stars remain undefeated at the Ontario Hockey Federation (OHF) atom A championship.

On day two of the three day tournament, St. Thomas completed the round robin, finishing at 4-0, earning a spot in the semifinals, as the top seed.

Today, the Jr. Stars defeated the West Mall Lightning, 8-1 and Willowdale Blackhawks, 7-4.

OHF Atom A schedule 

On Friday, St. Thomas opened with wins over Woodstock and Temiskaming Shores.(read: Metzger's old tricks) 

"We have 17 guys that can go and rolling the lines is really working. Everybody is scoring. I'm pretty sure every forward has scored a goal. The kids are playing really well," Stars' head coach Andrew Power said. "The boys are excited to be here and represent the city of St. Thomas. The kids are soaking up the experience.

"The West Mall Hockey Association has done an unbelievable job of accommodating us and putting this OHF championship on, right from the banquet on Thursday to dressing rooms and refereeing. They made the kids feel that this is a big deal."

St. Thomas meets Willowdale (1-3) in the semifinals, Sunday at 10 a.m., with the winner advancing to the 3 p.m. final.

"Willowdale is a good team. They have some very highly skilled players and their goalie is fantastic," said Power. "There's no game change. We'll keep working hard and keeping with our game plan."

Star Sam Taylor leads all scorers in the tournament with nine points, on five goals and four assists, while Mathew Zylstra has eight points, with two goals and six assists. AJ Power sits second overall in penalties with 10 minutes in the box.

"We're scoring a lot which we didn't do in the OMHA's, but the flood gates have opened," Power said. "The kids are working, going hard and passing the puck unbelievable now. We worked on it all year at practice and it's coming together in the final tournament of the season."

Kaleb Leveque had a hat trick and defenceman Matthew Masschaele scored twice, his first goal an unassisted shorthanded marker, to open the scoring, in the Jr. Stars' romp over West Mall.

Liam Metzger with his fifth goal of the tournament and Ryan Willmore also scored for St. Thomas. Mason Burns and Zylstra both picked up two assists.

Zylstra potted a pair of goals and Taylor had a goal and two assists, in the defeat of Willowdale, the Stars' first game today.

Jaitlyn Sutton, on the power play, Burns, Willmore and Metzger, completed the St. Thomas scoring.

Tied at one after the first period, a successful penalty shot gave Willowdale a 2-1 lead, just nine seconds into the second period. Their lead lasted just 28 seconds, before Zylstra knotted it at twos. Then Taylor put the Jr. Stars ahead only 19 seconds later. It was 5-2 St. Thomas entering the third period.

Willowdale scored twice early in the third frame, to pull within a goal, but Willmore and Sutton restored the Jr. Stars' three goal cushion.

Kurtis Grant failed to score on a penalty shot late in the second period, but did pick up an assist on Zylstra's first goal.