Kings drop opener

Nursing a second-period lead is never a good idea.

It came back to bite the Thunder Bay Kings in their Monday matinee opener at the 2013 All-Ontario Pee Wee AAA Championship.
Riding a one-goal advantage, courtesy of an Anthony Tassone goal at 1:31 into the second period, the Kings fell apart over a five-minute stretch, ultimately going down to an 8-2 defeat at the hands of the two-time champion York Simcoe Express.

The Express tallied five goals in a 3:49 middle stanza span, putting the opening-day Fort William Gardens contest away in a hurry.

“We were playing good in the first period and after the goal, they capitalized on all their goals, unlike us. In the third period we came out hard, but not hard enough. And that’s why we lost,” the 12-year-old Tassone said.

It was a rude welcome on home ice, at a tournament no Thunder Bay team has won since 1980, the first and only time it happened.
But the lopsided loss doesn’t have the Kings players too down in the dumps. There are still plenty of games to go, Tassone said, acknowledging they still have to turn things around in a hurry.

“We’re going to have to play hard and play physical because we don’t play with physicality much,” he said. “And we’re going to have to capitalize on all our chances.”

Kings coach Rainer Prager said the Kings downfall can be pinpointed rather easily.

“I think once they buried that puck, I think they stopped playing for a stretch of five or six minutes. They had trouble getting going. Coming back into the third they played a little bit better hockey, which was good to see,” Prager said.

“It’s the first experience for a lot of these young athletes here and it’s all about them. They ran through a vigorous program this year and we’re hoping the next game we’ll change a few things and have better things happen.”

Ian Vucko knotted the game 1-1 at 2:09 of the second. With Devlyn McGuire in the box for hooking, Cartier Robertson tallied nine seconds into the power play, giving the Express the lead for good. Forty-five seconds later Will McHenry beat Kings goalie Kane Sabbe. Nine seconds after that Ryan Littlejohn netted his first of back-to-back goals.

David Blom made it 6-1 at the 9:36 mark.

Matthew Bevilacqua, who drew a helper on Tassone’s goal, made a beautiful move to get around the Express defence, firing a wrist shot past Jordan Kooy in the York Simcoe net.

Anthony Issaris and Rhys Forhan also scored for the Express, who lost just three games this season, sporting a 26-3-5 record.

Ottawa Junior 67’s 7, NWO All-Stars 0: in the tournament opener, Mateo Belanger scored twice and added an assist to lead the 67’s to the win. Connor Corrigan made seven saves to earn the shutout , while Matthew Booth made 35 saves for the All-Stars. Ottawa plays Mississauga at 4 p.m., while the All-Stars take on rival Thunder Bay at 7 p.m.