W.O.A.A. South Division Finals

Petrolia Squires vs Tavistock Royals
game 3

Photos and highlights by Pat Brethauer
March 27, 2009

It felt like it was going to be a dismal night after hearing on the radio on the way to Petrolia that the Sarnia Legionnaires (Jr. B) had just been scored on :20 seconds into their game, then in Petrolia Tavistock scored on the Squires just :13 seconds into the first period.  However outcomes in both games ended on a good note with the Squires taking a 5 - 2 win in front of the home crowd and Legionnaires won 7 - 4 over London in Sarnia.

Taking the Squires by surprise was Jason Walsh, scoring unassisted.

The Squires answered back just over two minutes later when Jason Polera assisted by Mike Gardner and Greg Bailey scored a shorthanded goal to even things up.  Tavistock regained the lead at 6:25 on a goal scored by Jim Barlow from Mark Jennings.

At 15:16 Petrolia came back to tie when Joe Sauve scored a powerplay goal assisted by Chris McPhail and Danny Larocque.  With a minute and :51 seconds remaining in the period James Edgar  on a diving attempt scored the leading goal and what turned out to be the game winner with Danny Larocque assisting.

Both sides battled back and forth in the following two periods and with a 1:23 left on the clock Tavistock pulled their goal for the extra man attacker. 

With action deep in Petrolia's end Mike Perry broke open and took his time to dump it into the empty net, not once but twice to give the Squires the win with a final score of 5 - 2.
 

Danny Larocque assisted on both empty netters earning him 4 pts for the night.  Chris McPhail and James Edgar also earned assists on the empty netters.

In net turning aside 29 shots for Tavistock was Mark Gillies and Justin Day earned his first win in the series with a total of 31 saves.

The Squires now lead the series 2 games to 1 and are back in action tonight (Mar 28) when they return to Tavistock for game 4 of the best of 7 series.  Game time 7:25.

Next home game is Friday April 3 at 8:00 pm at the Greenwood Recreation Centre in Petrolia.