PJHL Roundup: Applejacks win third straight to tighten grip on fourth place

By Lee Griffi

Wellesley took both ends of a home-and-home with Dorchester on the weekend to move 10 points clear of fifth-place Tavistock in the Provincial Junior Hockey League’s (PJHL) South Doherty Division.

On Friday, the Applejacks skated to a 5-1 win despite giving up a Dolphins goal just one minute into the opening period. Stuart Sinclair scored twice to lead the offence while Dimitri Eleftheriadis and Owen Troyer had two helpers each. Brandon Abbot stopped 33 of 34 shots to earn the win. The two teams combined were 0 for 18 on the powerplay.

Wellesley travelled to Dorchester on Saturday and came away with a 5-2 victory thanks in large part to a three-point night from Eric Lacey. Keenan McGrath added a goal and assist with single markers by Evan Silveira, Troyer and Eleftheriadis.

Applejacks head coach Derek Lebold said his team’s goal is home ice for the first round of the playoffs, something they edged closer to with a pair of wins over the team chasing them in the standings.

“That’s much more attainable now given the weekend we just had. We go weekend by weekend. I’m not an advocate for setting goals but we try to set one every Wednesday at practice heading into a weekend; our weekly goals on what we want to accomplish.”

He added last weekend, the team called the home-and-home a mini playoff series.

“It’s shaping up. Right now, Dorchester and us would be a first-round series and we wanted to set a tone and precedent for what they can expect when they play Wellesley. We accomplished that.”

Lebold said the Applejacks are better than a fourth-place team.

“We’ve had some down weeks with injuries and player movement, but we have a tightknit group and I think we are ready to roll here. I wouldn’t be afraid; the goal would be to get us into that third spot to provide a deeper, home-ice advantage.”

Wellesley, so far this season, has relied on defence and has the second-lowest goals against in the Doherty Division, but just the fifth-best offence. Lebold said the team plays from the back end out which, as of late, has led to more scoring opportunities.

“I have been very impressed lately with how structured we are on defence, but I think six games in a row we have outshot our opponents. We were getting outshot and our goaltending was holding us in, but we aren’t allowing what we call Grade A opportunities.”

The Applejacks are hosting Stars Night on Saturday at 7:30 p.m. when they face the Paris Titans. Any minor hockey player wearing a team jersey will be admitted to the game at no charge.

Firebirds riding a five-game win streak

The last time New Hamburg lost a game was at home on Jan. 3, a 5-2 drubbing by Norwich. Since then, the Firebirds have rattled off five straight wins and find themselves in first place, two points ahead of the Merchants who have a game in hand.

The Firebirds avenged that loss with a 4-1 road win Friday night in front of 400 fans. New Hamburg led 2-1 after two periods on goals from Owen Sculthorp and Owen Fischer. Justin McManus and Fischer, with his 19th of the season, added third-period markers.

The third-annual Hockey Day in New Hamburg is this Sunday, Jan. 26. Festivities will begin at 1:15 p.m. when the U18 Jr. Firebirds take on the U18 Dorchester Dragons. At 3:30 p.m., the Firebirds will battle the Dorchester Dolphins. All New Hamburg Minor Hockey Association players will receive a free ticket to the game from their coach.

Braves drop three in a row

Tavistock lost a pair of weekend home games, beginning with a 3-1 defeat to Paris, the team now tied with the Braves for sixth place in the Doherty. The Braves have three games in hand.

Paris jumped out to a 3-0 lead after 40 minutes of play on Friday before Keaton Bartlett scored his second of the season late in the third. Tavistock did have their chances as they outshot the visitors 45-19 but Titans goalie James Gall stopped almost everything that came his way.

Tavistock was outshot 42-26 on Saturday in an 11-2 drubbing at the hands of Norwich. Jacob Reid-Brant gave the Braves a 1-0 lead on a powerplay four and a half minutes into the first period, but the Merchants scored the next four goals of the game before Bo Schurink’s second of the season made it 4-2. Norwich went on to score the next seven goals.

Tavistock starting goalie Lander Hartley stopped 19 of the 24 shots he faced before being pulled halfway through the game. Kaden Lange allowed six goals on 18 shots in relief.

The Braves next action is Friday night as they host New Hamburg and it doesn’t get any easier on Saturday at 4:30 p.m. when Norwich is in town. That game is the Minor Sports Day promotion where any child in attendance is eligible to win a year’s registration for the 2025-2026 season with minor soccer, hockey, baseball or figure skating in the village.