Pat Payton
Sports Editor
A potent powerplay, good production and leadership from the veterans, and solid goaltending.
Just a few reasons why Stratford Cullitons eliminated Cambridge Winter Hawks in a span of six days this past week.
The Tribe completed a four-game sweep of the fourth-place Winter Hawks with a 6-3 victory at the Allman Arena Sunday night in front of about 700 fans.
Two nights earlier on home ice, approximately 800 fans watched Stratford push Cambridge to the brink with a 3-2 win. Cullitons showed they meant business when they kicked off the best-of-seven Midwestern Conference quarter-final playoff series with victories on back-to-back nights, 5-2 and 3-2 in overtime, in Cambridge earlier in the week.
“We won four straight, but it’s almost a series where you could have lost four straight, too,” coach Phil Westman pointed out. “But the boys beared down and won those tight one-goal games.
“It was good hockey between two pretty evenly-matched teams, and (goalie) Evan Groenestege played really well but so did the Cambridge goaltender (Jeff Flagler).
“Another big factor was a couple of our older players stepped it up, and we’re quite happy for them,” he added.
Linemates combine for 17 points
Two of those veterans were centre Cohen Adair and winger Kyle Wilhelm. Adair picked up nine points in the series, including six goals, while linemate Wilhelm clicked for three goals and eight points.
Defencemen Kyle Roes and Craig Dalrymple were other big contributors offensively. Roes collected seven assists, while the hard-shooting Dalrymple fired three powerplay goals and finished the series with five points.
Groenestege, meanwhile, won all four games and posted a 2.17 goals-against average and a .937 save percentage in the quarter-final.
After winning the first two games in Cambridge, Westman said the coaching staff made sure that the players stayed focused on the task at hand. He said sweep was never a word spoken around the hockey club.
“We all learned from the way our team played a few months ago,” he pointed out. “We can’t take a shift or a night off because it’s not good if you lose momentum, so we stayed on the guys. But obviously, we were happy to come back to Stratford up 2-0 in the series.”
Stratford 6 - Cambridge 3
At the Allman Sunday evening, Cohen Adair capped a fine series with a pair of powerplay goals and Craig Dalrymple also connected with the man advantage and it stood up as the game winner.
The two veterans were the kingpins on the Cullitons powerplay, which went 8-for-16 in the series.
Goals by Adair and Tyler Masson – less than two minutes apart late in the first period – put Cullitons up 3-1 and ahead to stay.
Cody Hall scored for Winter Hawks before the end of the period, but Dalrymple’s winner restored a two-goal lead for the Tribe in the final minute of the middle frame.
After Adair made it 5-2 with his second of the game at 4:06 of the third, Tyler Luikkonen answered with the final Cambridge goal with less than five minutes to play. Wilhelm, also with his second, completed the scoring at 19:26. The big winger also earned two assists for a four-point outing.
Defenceman Roes, another key member of Stratford’s powerplay unit, was the playmaker with three assists. David Grant scored the other Winter Hawks’ goal.
Groenestege made 33 saves for the win.
“Even after we got up 5-2, we wanted to play it tight,” coach Westman noted. “Cambridge has some good goal-scorers, and Evan made some huge saves when he needed them.”
Stratford 3 - Cambridge 2
On Friday night at the Allman, late third-period powerplay goals by Wilhelm and Dalrymple gave Cullitons an exciting come-from-behind win in Game 3.
All five goals came with the man advantage.
After Cullitons captain Bucky Nelson and Cambridge’s Mike Sones traded first-period goals, Sones gave his team a 2-1 lead midway through the second.
The Tribe fired 20 shots at Flagler in the final 20 minutes, but couldn’t get a puck past him until 14:54. That’s when Wilhelm tied the count 2-2 from Roes. Dalrymple’s winner came with 61 seconds remaining, from Roes and Wilhelm.
Overall, Stratford out-shot the visitors 50-30, including 34-16 over the final two periods.
Notes:
• Cullitons held Cambridge to three powerplay goals in the sweep.
“Our powerplay was good, but so was our penalty-killing,” coach Westman said. “At this time of year, you have to be disciplined, and when you get that powerplay chance you have to cash them in.”
• Jason Lott, the Tribe’s director of hockey operations, had this to say about forward Bucky Nelson. “As you know, Bucky is responsible defensively, and it gives (linemates) Cohen and Kyle a little more freedom offensively.”
• While players such as Adair, Wilhelm and Dalrymple were standouts, Westman called the series win a “team effort.”
“All 20 guys contributed,” the coach said. “It was a team effort and that’s the big thing. It’s all of us together.”
• Cullitons will meet either Brantford or Waterloo in the conference semi-finals. It will be determined by the Elmira-Listowel quarter-final, which was tied 2-2 after the weekend.
If Elmira wins, Stratford will play Waterloo. If Listowel wins, Brantford will be the next opponent for the Tribe. If it’s the Siskins, that series could start as early as this Sunday in Waterloo. Next Tuesday would likely be the opener if it’s the first-place Golden Eagles.
Stratford 3 - Cambridge 2
(Overtime)
The Cullitons snuck out a win in Game 2 of their series – in a game coach Westman said showed far less intensity than the opener.
“I think both teams were tired from a tough (first) game, and we were fortunate (goalie) Evan (Groenestege) held us in there,” he said.
Groenstege faced 45 shots in the game, allowing only two in a Cullitons 3-2 overtime win.
The overtime winner came from centre Steve McParland, who drove down the right wing and beat goalie Jeff Flagler on his blocker side.
A big key for the Cullitons taking a two-game lead in the series has been their penalty kill. In the first two games they held the Winter Hawks to one goal in seven powerplay opportunities.
“Special teams is something I look at; I take pride in our penalty killing,” Westman said.
Brendan Nicholson evened the game in the first for the Tribe with a goal at the 14:51 mark, while the teams exchanged goals in the second and third, with Craig Dalrymple netting the equalizer on the powerplay.
Heading into Games 3 and 4, Westman said he wanted to make sure his players didn’t let up and played well in front of their home fans.
“There were times this year when we were down and people want to kick you a little bit; here’s our chance to answer back.”
Stratford 5 - Cambridge 2
The Stratford Cullitons opened their Midwestern Conference quarter-final series last Tuesday with an important first win.
Playing on the road, Stratford netted three goals in the third to defeat the Cambridge Winter Hawks 5-2.
The Cullitons were led by Cohen Adair, who heated up in the second period, finishing with four goals in only 40 minutes of action.
After the game, Cullitons coach Phil Westman said he couldn’t be happier with the play of Adair, an 18-year-old forward who earlier in the year struggled through a bout of mononucleosis.
“He’s got his strength back and he had that jump we needed,” Westman said. “He’s played very well of late.”
Both teams put plenty of pressure on the net throughout the game, each recording over 30 shots in total, but it was the teams’ goaltending which stood out in the opening frame. The Cullitons’
Evan Groenestege and the Winter Hawks’ Jeff Flagler had 29 and 28 saves, respectively, and kept their opposing team’s off the scoresheet in the first.
Adair got things going quickly in the second at the 36 second mark and then again at 8:13.
Cambridge sniper Cody Hall got the Winter Haws on the scoresheet with a goal shortly after, followed just two minute later by Brett Preistap to even the game.
In the third, Adair scored early on the powerplay, and from there the Winter Hawks seemed to lose their edge. Late goals from Adair and Kurtis Bailey – a top-corner shot from the wing – sealed the win.
“Once we got a bit of momentum and scored, Cambridge maybe let up a bit,” Westman noted.
