Dudley Hewitt Cup – Toronto Patriots Dump Dryden Ice Dogs

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Toronto Patriots Dumped the Dryden Ice Dogs in Dudley Hewitt Cup action
Toronto Patriots Dumped the Dryden Ice Dogs in Dudley Hewitt Cup action

Toronto Patriots Dumped the Dryden Ice Dogs in Dudley Hewitt Cup action
Toronto Patriots Dumped the Dryden Ice Dogs in Dudley Hewitt Cup action
FORT FRANCES, Ont. – Marcus Rose tallied twice and added an assist while Emanuel Vella stopped all 22 shots he faced to post the shutout as the Toronto Patriots dumped the Dryden GM Ice Dogs (SIJHL) 6-0 Wednesday afternoon in Game 3 of the Dudley-Hewitt Cup Central Canada Jr. A Championship at Ice for Kids Arena in Fort Frances.

A hard-hitting, fast-paced opening stanza saw it go scoreless with Toronto holding the edge in the shots on goal department by a 20-11 count.

Toronto would eventually open the goal parade near the midway point of the contest as Rose one-timed a Jeremy Pullara cross-ice feed underneath the outstretched pad of Dryden netminder Tate Sproxton.

Rose notched another two minutes later as he banged in his own rebound from in close during a Patriots man advantage at 9:58 of the second to put them up a pair through two periods of play.

The two-time defending Ontario Junior Hockey League champions added to their cushion 24 seconds into the final frame moments after a Dryden penalty had expired as Jacob Hayhurst slammed one in from the side of the crease.

The power play allowed the Patriots to extend their lead 5:41 into the third as Nicholas Geiser picked up his first of the tournament.

Toronto kept coming and potted their third extra man effort of the day with defenceman Niko Kovachis blasting one from the left face-off circle past Sproxton at 10:57.

Adding their fourth man advantage marker of the afternoon, the Patriots rounded out the scoring with 11 seconds to go courtesy of Geiser.

Hayhurst, Jeremy Pullara and Tyler Currie all chipped in with two assists apiece to aid Toronto’s offensive cause.

Player of the game honours went to Rose of the Patriots and the GM Ice Dogs Sproxton, who finished with 43 saves in defeat.

With the victory Toronto raises their record to 1-0-1 while Dryden falls to 0-2.

Next up in the round robin schedule sees the Soo Thunderbirds (NOJHL) (1-0-0) taking on the host Fort Frances Lakers (SIJHL) (1-0-0) tonight at 7:30 p.m. Central/8:30 p.m. Eastern.

The winner there will be guaranteed at least a berth in the semifinal later in the week.

Live scoring and tournament information can be found on the Dudley-Hewitt Cup website at www.centralcanadianchampionship.com.

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