PJHL roundup: Navy Vets force Game 7 of PJHL series with Braves

By Lee Griffi

The back-and-forth Doherty Division championship series between Woodstock and Tavistock will be decided in a seventh game.

Road teams have won four of the six games in the series to date, and the Braves hoped that trend would continue on Wednesday night, one day before the Gazette goes to print.

The Braves have outshot the Navy Vets 244 (41 per game) to 142 (24 per game) but have only outscored Woodstock 20-19. Navy Vets goalie Tyler Bouck has posted a 2.61 goals against average with a .928 save percentage in 16 playoff games. Blake Richard has been no slouch for the Braves with a 2.32 goals against and a .910 save percentage.

After a scoreless first, Woodstock jumped out to a 2-0 lead by the nine-minute mark of the second period of Game 6 and earned a 7-3 win to force Game 7. Goals by Tavistock’s Keaton Bartlett and Yann Raskin tied it up after 40 minutes, but the Navy Vets scored three consecutive markers in the first 15 minutes to take a 5-2 lead.

Tavistock pulled Richard 13 seconds later, but Cooper Vickerman scored on the empty net to take a four-goal lead. Keegan Metcalf added a powerplay goal for the Braves, but another empty net marker by the Navy Vets rounded out the scoring.

“Everything here is simple. We have outplayed them five on five in almost every game,” said Braves general manager Brent Lange. “We're still very confident. (Tuesday) night was just a couple of bad turnovers and a couple of empty net goals. We will be fine.”

Lange added all the statistics and trends so far in the series mean nothing heading to Game 7.

“It's simple here. We win, we move on. We score one or two more goals than them, we win.”

Game 5 on Sunday saw Tavistock jump out to a 4-1 lead after 40 minutes as they earned a 5-2 victory. Raskin and Ethan Stover led the attack with a goal and two assists each while Evan Palubeski scored a pair.

Woodstock skated away with a 3-0 road win on Friday as Bouck stopped all 53 shots he faced. Owen Ireton picked up a goal and an assist to lead the Navy Vets.

The winner of Game 7 will advance to the Provincial Junior Hockey League’s (PJHL) South Division final against the Dundas Blues, who eliminated the Niagara Riverhawks in five games.