Canes Miss Chance For First; Lose Late To Whitby

Your Hurricanes continue to be consistently inconsistent as of late, not just from game to game but period to period. Newmarket dominated the middle period, scoring three times, but allowed two goals in each of the first and third frames in a 4-3 loss to the Whitby Fury at Iroquois Park SPorts Centre on Sunday.

Not only did the loss prevent the Canes from leap-frogging Aurora back into first in the OJHL North Division but the Fury are now tied with the Canes at 61 points for fourth in the North/East Conference.

While the teams had equal opportunities in the opening frame (shots were 9-9), it was Whitby who capitalized on a couple of defensive gaffes to go up by a pair (10:59 and 15:59).

Period number two saw the Canes come out strong and pick up a trio of goals as a result. Brycin Morrison registered his 6th of the year at 3:10 on a well-place wrister from the deep slot. David Savery’s seeing-eye shot from the point managed to bulge the twine at 10:25 for his 3rd of the campaign to tie the score. Justin Maiolino notched his 6th of 2012/13 at 18:29 to give Newmarket the lead going into the 2nd Intermission. Shots were 13-11 Canes.

A lot of the play was spent in the Newmarket end in the third, even though the shot total was only 9-8 Fury (30-29 Newmarket overall). Whitby tied the game early (1:18) and then potted the game-winner late (18:54).

In a bizarre early third period incident, Savery and Whitby’s Steven Deeg each doffed much of their gear in preparation for an attempted scrap but were prevented from “tangling” by the linesmen. Following only inexplicable ten-minute misconducts to the pair, the duo reconvened after “the dimes” to renew hostilities after the ten-minute mark of the third and will suffer one-game suspensions as a result.

Savery added an assist to earn a two-point contest while Matt LeMasurier had two assists on the afternoon.

Lucas Peressini made 25 saves in goal for Newmarket.

The Canes host the Stouffville Spirit on Thursday, February 14 at 7:30pm at the Twinney Complex in “The Battle of York” Benefit Game for Southlake Cancer Care Centre (the game counts in the OJHL standings). Game sponsor is Cineplex and the Excape Entertainment Centre. Come on out and make bids on our many Silent Auction items (hosted by The Silent Auction Company) and help us raise big money for Southlake in honour of the late Kevin Lord, K.J. Ramolla and Josh Sedore.