The Huntsville MBRP Minor Midget Otters are going to the provincial finals.
The Otters earned the right to go to the Ontario Minor Hockey Association BB championships after edging the Port Hope Phantoms in a tie-breaking game on Sunday in Port Hope by a score of 4-2.
Head coach Randy Robinson said that the team played as a unit in the win on Sunday, a key that was missing from the Otters’ playbook for Game 5, in Port Hope, on Saturday.
“They succeed as a team,” he said. When all the parts are working as a team they refuse to lose. When we didn’t win (Games 3 and 5) they weren’t playing together. They were trying to win the game as individuals. They bought into it (for Game 6) and they played together as a team and won,” he said.
The midgets found themselves only needing a tie or win on Saturday in Port Hope to win their semifinal series .The team was rewarded with the game’s first goal only four minutes in on a well-placed shot from the point by Jimmy Temple that was neatly tipped past the surprised Port Hope goaltender by Tyler Vanhorne. Brenden Krahn got the other assist on the play.
While the early goal should have motivated the Otters, nerves seemed to be getting to many of the players as they played tight and were fighting the puck. If not for the stellar goaltending of Matt Leslie, the Otters could have found themselves in a deep hole. Port Hope once again showed their hard work and determination and was finally able to beat Leslie with six minutes remaining in the second period and scored one more to take a 2 -1 lead at the end of the second.
Port Hope scored less than a minute into the third to take a 3-1 lead in what has been a very tight series. Despite their best efforts, Huntsville was not able get anything going until late in the period when Dylan Brown scored with two minutes left. Assists on Brown’s goal went to Dylan Hope and Curtis Hall. But it was a case of too little too late as, with the Huntsville goalie pulled, the Otters were not able to get any shots on net and lost 3-2. The loss tied the series at five points each.
The series switched back to Huntsville for Game 6 on Sunday with the winner moving on to the Ontario championship series. With the season on the line, both teams were playing a cautious game with neither team wanting to make the first mistake. But with five minutes left in the first, the play opened up and Brandon Quan scored a nice goal by beating a surprised Port Hope goaltender. The Otters could sense Port Hope was rattled and immediately pounced again less than two minutes later on a goal by Vanhorne, with assists going to Graham and Krahn. With the crowd going crazy and the energy high, it appeared Huntsville was getting ready to run away with it. But as good teams do, Port Hope scored just 20 seconds later to close the lead to 2- 1.
With the tension mounting, Port Hope was finally able to tie the game midway through the second. But the Otters refused to crumble and gave Port Hope a taste of their own medicine when Krahn scored less than a minute later to give Huntsville the lead back. Graham got the assist.
With time ticking down, Graham sprung Krahn down the left side, who blew a rocket past the Port Hope goaltender, under the cross bar and in. The longest minute of the season played out and the Otters, on the back of some spectacular goaltending by Natalie Robinson, won the game 4 -2.
The Otters will now face St. Mary’s in a rematch of last year’s finals. The dates and times for the series were not available at press time.