PJHL Roundup: Braves take series lead into weekend games as playoff streak snappe
- 14 hours ago
- 3 min read
By Lee Griffi
Tavistock may have taken the first two games of their Provincial Junior Hockey League’s (PJHL) Doherty Division final in easy fashion, but the Navy Vets sent a message on Tuesday night they will not go down easily.
The Braves came into the game at the Southwood Arena with a 2-0 series lead, but the Navy Vets made a statement of their own with a 5-2 victory. Tavistock came into the matchup on a 10-game playoff win streak and won 22 of their last 24 games in total.
Woodstock led 2-0 after two periods on goals by Carson Littlejohn and Owen Ireton as they were consistently able to get behind the Tavistock defence. Evan Palubeski cut the lead in half early in the third period but the Navy Vets scored three straight to seal the win. Jackson Andrews scored his first of the playoffs for the Braves with 44 seconds left in the game.
Woodstock was able to find room behind the Tavistock defence consistently, something Braves head coach Zac Berg said contributed to the loss.
“We strayed from our gameplan, and we weren’t staying above our checks like we have been doing throughout the playoffs. We can’t rely on our goalie to make every save and that’s what cost us in the end.”
Berg added there weren’t many positives to take away from the loss.
“To be honest, it wasn’t us tonight, but we can’t panic after one loss. We rattled off 10 in a row during the playoffs, so this was eventually going to happen, and it wasn’t the worst thing for us.”
He added he is confident his team will put in a better effort in Game 4 on Friday night at home.
“We have been doing it all season long, bouncing back from tough losses. If we can do that, we will be totally fine.”
Navy Vets head coach Adam Wallace said his team rose to the challenge to stave off being on the brink of elimination.
“The effort was good, the detail was good. It was nice to have a bounce-back game like that because the first two weren’t great.”
He said his team did a better job scoring on the chances they had, and added his players were ready to go after a pair of lopsided losses.
“It’s easy to get down after losing the first two, especially in the division final. The biggest thing was the mindset of being prepared, ready to go and treating it as another game and not get away from the things that brought us success this season.”
Wallace said his team’s leadership group stepped up their play and led the charge.
“It’s always nice when the big boys show up for us and they did that tonight. I thought the entire team did that and played their roles and did what they needed to do to make our team successful.”
Game 1 resulted in a 5-1 home-ice win for the Braves as they scored twice in the first period and three times in the second. Captain Marc Dionne and Ethan Stover led the attack with a pair of assists each, while Yann Raskin added a goal and a helper. Other goal scorers were Jack Hodge, Ryan McKellar and Keegan Metcalf. Raskin’s “Michigan” goal gave the Braves a 3-0 lead in the second period and seemed to take some wind out of the sails of Vets.
Tavistock took Game 2 by the same 5-1 count in Woodstock and were led by Keegan Metcalf’s three points. Ryan McKellar and Ethan Stover added two assists each, while Hodge, Keaton Bartlett and Jacob Reid-Brant scored single markers. Stover chipped in with two helpers.
Tavistock outshot Woodstock 82-46 over the first two games of the series. Game 4 will be played in Tavistock on Friday at 7:30 p.m., with Game 5 set for 6:45 p.m. on Sunday in Woodstock.