The Mount Forest Patriots have another PJHL Pollock Division Championship banner, making it three years in a row as division champion.
Mount Forest clinched the three-peat with a 7-1 win over Wingham in Game 6 of the series.
Both teams were up and down early in the series and for Mount Forest, the coaching staff had to make a big decision that ended up giving them the opportunity to win the series.
After the Ironmen sunk the Patriots in Game 3 in Mount Forest 9-4, the coaching staff made a change in net. Aidan Quish got the start in Game 4. He would finish the series, making 117 saves and posting a .936 save percentage.
"I was nervous," said Quish. "First game in a while in the playoffs and we were against a great opponent." Quish did appear into Games 1 and 3 playing about 30 minutes combined, but not until the later stages of those games.
Mount Forest also converted on a couple of bounces. In Game 4 with just 1:30 left in the third period, Patriots forward Riley Cribbin centered the puck from behind the Wingham net and it deflected off a player in a crowd and went in for the winner. He would end the series with 13 points. And in Game 5, after surviving a flurry of Wingham chances, Brady Becker scored just his second goal of the series in overtime for a 5-4 Mount Forest win.
Patriots' captain Klayton Hoelscher eluded to the team's resiliency.
"We lost two hard ones at home and we never gave up no matter the score," said Hoelscher. "Coming into tonight's game, I think we only led for a total of 10 minutes or so, so it speaks a lot to the character."
Congrats to the @MFPatriotsPJHL on their 3rd straight @PJHL_Pollock title with a 6-1 win in game 6 against @WinghamIronmen wow. What a run. pic.twitter.com/5V4LJEZkYW
— Ryan Drury (@CKNX_Drury) March 17, 2019
*note that the final score in Game 6 was 7-1, and not 6-1 as displayed in the above tweet
For the Wingham Ironmen it ended a season filled with a lot of hard work and accolades.
"I think it started with our captain this year," said Head Coach Cory Hamilton. "He (Jamie Huber) didn't miss anything. And Carter Collinson, our two top guys are so dedicated, it just trickles down from there."
Collinson would go on to be named the division's MVP.
As for the team, Hamilton says it is full of building blocks.
"We're still a young team," said Hamilton. "We have some older guys but we have a bunch of 2000's and 2001's and if they can learn from this and remember this and be better for it."
Four Ironmen players also finished their junior hockey run last night. Jamie Huber, Jarod Logan, Shane Vollmer and Josh Higgins all started the season as 21-year-olds. Huber finishing where he started as a 16-year old and Jarod Logan, the Belgrave native, who spent four seasons on the Wingham blueline.
As for the next step for the Mount Forest Patriots, it's on to face Alliston for the second time in three seasons. The two teams never faced each other in the regular season. And in the playoffs, the Hornets have only lost one game, that in their division semi-finals. Alliston swept Penetang in the final.
The series schedule between Mount Forest and Alliston has yet to be set.
--with files from Ryan Drury
