The Greater Metro Jr. A. Hockey League playoffs continue in the Battle of Bradford.
At one point, it looked like the Bradford Jr. A Rattlers would sweep their GMHL North Division Best of Five semifinal series against fellow-Bradford team, the Bulls. Rattlers won the first two games, to take a 2-0 series lead.
But the threat of elimination is a powerful incentive, and the Bulls proved why they were ranked third in the Regular Season standings, and deserve a chance at the championship.
They not only took Game 3 on Saturday night with a decisive 3-2 win – they repeated on Sunday night, with a 2-1 victory that tied the series at two games apiece.
Period One on Sunday was filled with fast-paced action and end-to-end skating but no scoring, as both netminders blocked shot after shot and recorded some huge saves. It was clean hockey – no goals, but no penalties, either.
The second period opened with the score still tied 0-0, but the Bulls continued to press, demonstrating fierce determination to counter every Rattler move.
All the same, the Rattlers were first on the scoreboard, with just over 7 minutes remaining in the period – a goal by Tikhon Ashikhmin (#55) from Vaclav Boguaj (#25) and Michael Hill (#91).
The Rattlers’ 1-0 lead was short-lived. Three minutes later, the Bulls evened the score on a goal by Nicolai Harries (#22) from #17 Shawn Soliman and #23 Dylan Henri.
Thirty-five seconds later, the Bulls took a 2-1 lead, on a goal by #7 Gage Janse, assisted by #9 Nicholas Rotatore and Bulls goalie Travis Smith (#30).
And that was the end of the scoring, in both Period 2 and Period 3. There were plenty of penalties, fierce onslaughts and determined rushes, but neither side could solve the solid netminding of either Bulls goalie Smith or the Rattlers’ Andrei Berezinsky (#1).
In fact, both teams were evenly matched, with each goalie facing thirty shots on net – but Smith blocked 29 of 30, and Berezinsky blocked 28, giving the Bulls the win.
The importance of the goaltenders – in the final two minutes of play, the Rattlers pulled Berezinsky for the extra attacker, but were unable to capitalize and eventually sent their goalie back into net – was recognized in awarding the Stars of the Game.
Star #1 went to Bulls’ goalie Travis Smith; Star #2 to Rattlers’ netminder Andrei Berezinsky, and Star #3 to Bulls’ #7, Gage Janse, for his game-winning goal.
The Bulls win sends the series to a Game 5 on Monday, 2:30 p.m. at the BWG Leisure Centre. If the Rattlers want to move on to the North Division Championship versus top-ranked Temiskaming, they will have to not only solve the Bulls’ netminding, they’ll need to step up their passing game. All too often Rattler passes ended up on Bulls’ sticks – and the Bulls were quick to take advantage.
