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(pictured - for the second consecutive year, the Trenton Golden Hawks were crowned the OJHL North-East Conference champion - photo credit: Amy Deroche/OJHL Images)

If you asked many league watchers at Christmas time who they thought would be playing off for the North-East conference title in March/April, the consensus would likely have consisted of a lot of Trenton/Cobourg answers.  Sure enough, that’s exactly how things shook down on this side of the league   After Trenton was given a bit of a scare in round 1 against a much improved Newmarket Hurricanes club they rolled through the Stouffville Spirit with relative ease, disposing of them in just 4 games. For the Cobourg Cougars their road to the final started with a 4 game sweep of the Kingston Voyageurs in round 1. In their second series, the cats squared off with the Wellington Dukes and although the series was close, Cobourg was able to move on in just 5 games. There’s no doubt both teams would love to enter the respective tournaments they are hosting (Trenton the Dudley-Hewitt Cup, Cobourg the RBC Cup) through the front door and a trip to the league finals would go a long way towards doing just that. Up first for the conference’s #1 & #3 seeds was a clashing in the North-East’s final.

In what has become a bit of a routine for the Cobourg Cougars, they started another series on the road.  However, this time it was because they were the lower seed with Trenton holding home ice. Many people thought that this series would be fast, physical and low scoring.  It certainly wouldn’t disappoint.  The biggest question in this series would be whether or not Josh Maguire would return for the Cougars and if not how would that affect the team.

After playing a scoreless first half of period 1, Trenton was able to get their hometown fans right into the game.  It was one of the leaders in Lucas Brown who had the honours, giving the Hawks a 1-0 that would hold up for the first.  Despite a tame first half, it didn’t take long for the bad blood to come out as the rough stuff came to a head towards the end of the frame with a majority of the penalties being off-setting minors.  Early in the 2nd the Hawks would extend their lead courtesy of a Brandon Marinelli tally, but it would serve as a Cobourg wake up call.  They answered it just a few minutes later with a key goal from Matt Carroll to halve the defecit early in the second stanza. Trenton’s powerplay would get it back with a Lucas Brown 2nd goal on the powerplay to again make it a 2 goal lead. And, in a case of anything you can do I can do better, Cobourg answered right back with their own powerplay goal with Brenden Locke getting it done. The teams traded goals and it was a much more disciplined period. At the end of 40 minutes it would be the Hawks taking a 3-2 lead into a big 3rd period.  Cobourg wouldn’t waste any time tying things up.  Just 2 and a half minutes into the 3rd the timely Spencer Roberts would bulge the twine to pull the Cougars even with the Hawks for the first time since puck drop.  Despite their best attempt to solve Chris Janzen with a barrage of shots, the Trenton tender stood tall showing why his numbers in the big categories are the best in the playoffs (win, save percentage and goals against average). Janzen’s efforts would pay off.  Max Ewart, the junior B call up from Strathroy, would be the difference maker.  He would pick up his 2nd playoff goal with about 7:00 left and it would hold up as the winner to make it a 4-3 final and give Trenton a 1-0 series lead.

Before game 2 even got started the big story was whether or not Trenton would have the services of #1 netminder Chris Janzen for games 3 & 4. At the conlusion of game 1 Janzen, in celebration, wound up swatting a puck over the glass and into the protective netting where it bounced back onto the ice surface.  However, with the way the rule is written, and it’s black and white, an infraction of the such carries with it a 2 game suspension. With that said, in would come Elliot Gerth to start while Janzen sat out his suspension.  Right from the drop of the puck it would be important for the Cougars to get their crowd into early and give them a reason to be loud.  Again, like in game 1, the back and forth for the opening 10 minutes would serve as a feeling out phase.  It took about that long for the physicality to return to the game as well.  Matt Carroll would open the scoring for the Cougars to give them their first lead of the series and give the hometown something to roar about.  That’s all the scoring we would see in the first period, again, and after 20 minutes it was again the home side heading into the dressing room after 1 period with a 1-0 lead.  Off the hop of the second period the Hawks came out flying.  They got an early powerplay and made good on it when defenceman Josh Allan got himself into the offence and tied things at 1. Trenton would use that goal to build some momentum as the two teams worked through the middle portion of game 2.  Just past the mid-point of the period Trenton would grab their first lead of the game.  Brandon Marinelli and Michael Silveri would set up Liam Morgan to give Trenton a 2-1 edge, one that would hold up into the intermission.  In the 3rd, special teams would play a big role.  Nick  Minerva would bring the Cougars faithful to life when he would score a powerplay goal at 7:10 to tie the game at 2 and put it right back to square one.  For the first time in this series the two sides would need extra time to settle things, not to the chagrin of anyone. It wouldn’t take long for the game to be decided.  Josh Allan, who you will remember scored Trenton’s first of the game on the powerplay, would creep down into the slot and jump all over the biscuit as he fired it past Stefano Durante to give Trenton a 3-2 overtime win and a 2-0 lead.  The big boost for Trenton in this one, on top of the win, was the play of Elliot Gerth. He came into the game relatively untested in playoffs (he did have minimal minutes) and faced 38 shots with only 2 goals against.  To know you have 2 goalies that can perform when the chips are down is a huge boost to any team.

There wasn’t much time for either team to either a) celebrate the win or b) dwell on the loss. They were back at it the very next night which, if you were Cobourg, probably benefitted you more than Trenton. Trenton did have the fact they were returning home up 2-0 in their favour, though.  In the first period it looked like Trenton may have been a little cozy with a 2-0 series lead and weren’t able to match Cobourg’s desperation to pick up a win.  The Cougars knew that they had to start converting on their powerplay chances more consistently to be successful against Trenton and that’s exactly what they did in the first. They got an extra-man tally from Daniel McKitrick and then it was followed up by another one by Jack Bricknell. By the time the first period was over the Cougars had snared a 2-0 lead in the game and outshot the Golden Hawks by a 2-1 margin. Cobourg clearly knew what was at stake in game 3.  Trenton though, like they have done many times, started to chip away at the hole they were in, one goal at a time.  Despite being outshot in the 2nd period again, a stat that is highly contested amongst teams, Trenton didn’t get away from their game plan. Louis DiMatteo got Trenton on the board and brought them to within 1 of the Cougars at the end of the 2nd.  In the third period it would be Bryce Martin, another junior B call up from the Fort Erie Meteors, tying the game at 2 with his first playoff goal for Trenton.  For the 2nd straight night the teams were headed to overtime tied at 2.  It may have been a new rink, night and game, but the momentum was all in Trenton’s favour heading into the extra frame. This time it would take a little long for the game to be decided, but the result would be the same.  Michael Silveri would pick up with winner 13:00 into the first overtime period to give the Hawks a big 3-2 home ice win and, more importantly, a 3-0 series lead heading back to Cobourg with a chance to punch their ticket for a 2nd consecutive league finals appearance. 

The teams had a day off in between game 3 and 4, which likely consisted in a lot of video work for both sides.  Cobourg was facing elimination for the first time in the playoffs while the Trenton Golden Hawks were looking to move onto the league finals for a 2nd straight year.  To say there was pressure on both sides would be fair.  Like in the 3 games prior to this, the opening half of the first frame was fairly quiet. Trenton would be the first team to strike in game 4 when Chris Sekelyk lit the lamp at 10:35. Again, like in games 1-3, this would be the only goal of the period and it would be Trenton heading into the intermission with a 1-0 lead like in games 1 & 2. Bryce Martin, who had been playing well for Trenton lately, continued with the his goal scoring as he picked up a goal in his second straight game, early in the 2nd period, to make it a 2-0 Trenton lead.  As the period wore on, the desperation level of the Cougars started to increase. A 3-0 defecit against a strong Trenton team would be a very hard road block to overcome.  Cobourg’s efforts would pay off.  They would get one back late in the 2nd when Mac Lowry found a chink in the armour of Chris Janzen to get themselves on the board and back in the game.  That’s all the damage they could do in the 2nd, though, and heading into the 2nd intermission it would be a 2-1 Trenton lead.  Early in the third period Cobourg would take a costly penalty.  With Spencer Roberts off for high-sticking, the Trenton powerplay would go to work and it wouldn’t take long to do so.  Just 27 seconds into the man advantage Lucas Brown would get one past Durante for a 3-1 lead and swing all the momentum back in the way of Trenton, who had a large contingent of their own fans on hand at the Cobourg Community Centre.  Despite Cobourg’s best efforts to get back in the game and series, Trenton upped their defensive play and just wouldn’t allow it. The teams would finish with just 5 shots a piece in the third and Trenton would skate off 3-1 game winners and 4-0 series winners, propelling themselves through to the OJHL finals for the 2nd year in a row.  For the Cougars, they’ll be idle for roughly 5-6 weeks as they await the teams they will face at the RBC Cup in mid-May.  For Trenton, because they are hosting the Dudley-Hewitt Cup they are guaranteed a birth in the tournament regardless of what happens in the league final.  That means the Georgetown Raiders will also be there.

The North-East Conference Championship Series playoff wrap-up is written by Allan Etmanski, who provides play-by-play coverage for the Kingston Voyageurs. Follow Allan on Twitter - @allanetmanski