The Dragons defeated Rochester United, 4-1, last night in the first OAA league playoff game.
Rochester led after two periods 1-0 on the back of their red hot goalie Ian Mercer. The Dragons had dominated play and had three power plays but just could not shoot it past Mercer.
In the third period, Jake Kruetizer fed a pass from his own goal line to a streaking Corbin Rainey at the Rochester United blue line and’he ripped a hard wrist shot into the net, tying the game.?
A couple minutes later Rainey scored again on a power play with assists going to Kruetizer and Jesse Cameron. The game was still in doubt as the Dragons killed off a power play and came back to score again.
Jake Kruetizer stole a clearing pass attempt along the boards and skated in on net, when there was no one to pass to he shot it at the five hole and the puck just made it passed the goal line to seal the game.
The Green and White added an insurance power play goal as Brent Cotter shot from the blue line, Shane Stockwell’s tip was saved but Nick Balavich crashed the rebound into the netting.
Dominic Junjac played well in net, making several key saves and staying sharp while only facing 15 shots. The Dragons out shot Rochester United 48-15 in the game and improved their record to 14-7-1.
Lake Orion played again on Saturday night in Rochester, facing-off against the’seventh ranked Farmington Flames in what turned out to be the best game of the year, so far.
Farmington scored first on a power play in the first period. Lake Orion answered just as their own power play had ended when Shane Stockwell fed a pass to the point, Dylan Rosen ripped a shot off the goaltenders pads and Brett Reed banged it home to tie the score. The period ended tied and both teams were buzzing.
The Dragons came out on fire in the second period as Jesse Cameron fed a pass low to Brett Reed who fed a backhand pass to Corbin Rainey to open up a goal lead.
The Dragons fought off a Farmington power play when Jake Kruetizer fed Nick Balavich coming out of the penalty box to go one on one against the goalie. The Falcon’s goaltender fought off the first shot but Jesse Cameron picked up the rebound and knocked it into the netting to build the lead.
Farmington scored again before the period ended, leading to an exciting third period.
The Falcons tied the game with 11 minutes to go and it appeared as though the game may go into overtime when the Dragons went on another power play. Jake Kruetizer ripped a shot and the goal tender could not control the rebound, which was picked up by Brett Reed who scored the game winner with 5:54 left to play.
There were several anxious moments for Lake Orion and the capacity crowd as the Falcons pulled their net-minder with?1:30 left. The Falcons nearly scored with three ticks on the clock after winning a face off, however Dominic Junjac came up big again and secured the victory.
Dominic faced 33 shots throughout the game as the Dragons were outshot 33-29 but managed to make the most of their opportunities.
This was the first ever hockey victory against the Farmington Falcons and was even sweeter considering it was in the league playoffs.
The Green and White will face Stoney Creek for the OAA league championship on Saturday, Feb. 26 at the Farmington Ice Arena.