NEWS

The Toronto Patriots (photo credit - Tim Bates/OJHL Images) are OJHL Champions for the second consecutive year after defeating the Kingston Voyageurs in game seven of the 2015 OJHL Championship Series on Tuesday night.

For the second time in three years, the OJHL Championship Series came down to a one game, winner-take-all, game seven, with the OHA Frank L. Buckland Trophy (better known as the Buckland Cup) and the right to represent the OJHL at the Dudley-Hewitt Cup, Central Canadian Junior 'A' Championship on the line.

Although the second game seven in three years, this also marked just the fourth game seven in OJHL Championship Series history:
April 21, 2103    Newmarket Hurricanes  1    vs.     St. Michael's Buzzers  3    St. Michael's College School Arena
April 18, 1997    Newmarket 87's  3        vs.     Milton Merchants  7    Milton Memorial Arena
1975-76        North Bay Trappers           defeated    North York Rangers    North York Centennial Centre

Having won the Buckland Cup on home ice the previous year, the Patriots seemingly had the upper-hand coming into the contest, but the Kingston Voyageurs 'Never-Say-Die' attitude has been hard to ignore throughout the post-season.  Toronto took the upper-hand early, testing Vees netminder Daniel Urbani with a great shorthanded chance by Nicholas Ursitti and a wide-open net that was narrowly missed by Nathan Feric.  The pressure finally broke when Jacob Hayhurst banged home his ninth of the post-season just over seven minutes into the first.  Kingston bounced back with some chances of their own, including a breakaway by Cole Bolton, but both netminders held the fort the rest of the way with the final shots 15-12 in favour of the Pats after period one.

The second period saw the teams continue to trade quality scoring chances at both ends through the first half of the period with the Patriots missing yet another cross-ice, open net opportunity.  Just past the midway point of the contest, Jacob Hayhurst was thwarted in-tight as he looked for his second of the game, but the puck squirted straight out to Marcus Rose, who made no mistake in finding the back of the net for his 10th of the playoffs.  Just 24 seconds later, Toronto struck again as Ursitti cut through the slot and made a no-look back pass to defenceman Tyler Currie.  Just like that it was 3-0 and the odds were quickly stacking against the miracle Vees.  Final shots were 13-11 in favour of Toronto.

The third period would continue with much of the same script.  The teams traded chances early and then with Vees captain Mike Crocock off for interference, the Patriots capitalized, swarming the net with multiple chances that were turned aside by Urbani before Mitch Emerson wrapped it around from behind the net for his team leading 14th and an insurmountable 4-0 lead.  Adam Moodie cut the lead to 4-1 under a minute later, breathing some life into the visitors, but with Urbani on the bench for an extra attacker, Emerson potted his second of the game.  Quinn Syrydiuk added a second empty-net goal for a final score of 6-1 as the Toronto Patriots became the first back-to-back OJHL champion since the St. Michael's Buzzers in 2005 and 2006.

Patriots' netminder Mathew Robson was named the recipient of the Brent Ladds Trophy as OJHL Playoff Most Valuable Player, finishing the post-season with a spectacular 1.77 goals against average to lead all goalies.

Toronto will now represent the OJHL at the 2015 Dudley-Hewitt Cup, Central Canadian Junior 'A' Championship being held from April 28 to May 2 in Fort Frances, Ontario, hosted by the SIJHL and the Fort Frances Lakers.  The Patriots are also defending Dudley-Hewitt Cup champions, having won the event last season in Wellington, Ontario.