Royals one loss away from elimination

Tavistock forward Sean Kienapple dekes Saugeen Shores goalie Clayton Fritsch as he scored in game three of the series. Photo courtesy of the Tavistock Royals

By Lee Griffi

Overtime was not kind to Tavistock on the weekend as they dropped a pair of games to Saugeen Shores in extra time, 4-2 on the road and 5-4 at home.

The Royals now trail the Winterhawks three games to one with a must-win matchup set for Friday at the Tavistock and District Recreation Centre.

At home on Saturday, the Royals twice held two-goal leads before the visitors roared back with a pair of third-period goals to force the extra period. The winning goal came four and a half minutes into overtime. Tristan Hohl and Drew Gerth scored first-period goals as the Royals led 2-1 with Jermy Munro extending the lead to 3-1 early in the second. The Winterhawks cut the lead to one two minutes later before Mitch Facey’s marker restored a two-goal lead.

Erik Robichaud added two assists for Tavistock while Graeme Noye stopped 27 of 32 shots in the losing effort.

The Royals travelled to Port Elgin Friday where they held leads of 2-1 after 20 minutes and 3-2 halfway through the third period. The Winterhawks forced overtime with a goal at the 1:20 mark of the third and buried the game-winner.

Saugeen Shores took the only four minor penalties of the game as the Royals went one for four with the man advantage. Despite taking the loss, Zach Shomphe was solid between the pipes kicking out 42 of 46 shots.

Royals head coach Tyson Zehr admitted the OT losses were tough to swallow.

“We had our chances to close out both games, but sometimes that’s just the way the game goes. We had a bunch of good looks and their goalie made some big saves. It feels like missed opportunities, but it also speaks to how tight and competitive this series is.”

The Royals peppered 92 shots on the Winterhawks goal across the two weekend games, something Zehr said was encouraging.

“Yeah, the shots tell the story; we’ve been generating plenty of chances, but we haven’t been able to convert at the rate we’d like. Their goalie’s been solid, but we need to find ways to capitalize.”

The mood in Tavistock’s locker room was obviously disappointing but Zehr said his guys will be ready come Friday night’s Game 5.

The confidence is still there. The guys know we’re right in these games. We’ve been playing good hockey, and if we stick to our structure and finish our chances, we can turn this around.”

He also expects playing at home to be a big advantage.

“Playing at home gives us that extra energy from the crowd and we’re comfortable in our own rink. We know we need to bring our best effort to force a Game 6 and having that home-ice advantage should help us do that. This group isn’t going to go down without a fight. We’ve battled all year and we believe we can get the job done. The guys are excited for the challenge and ready to leave it all out there.”

The puck drops at 8:30 p.m. Friday for Game 5 while Game 6, if necessary, is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. in Port Elgin on Saturday. If a Game 7 is needed, it will be Sunday afternoon in Tavistock at 3:30 p.m.