Game 5 took place Saturday night in Ripley with the home
team fighting for their lives to stave off elimination.
Ripley’s offence came out firing, netting 3 goals starting
at the 11:11 mark before Tavistock’s #17 Deven Kropf (assisted by Christner/Mike
Noyes) were able to get the Royals on the board with 1:39 left in the
period. Ripley left 3-1 after the 1st
period.
The 2nd period saw the Royals offence come alive
and flip the script, scoring 3 goals to Ripley’s 1. The 2nd period ended in a 4-4
tie. Royals goals came from #14 Gerth
(assisted by Robichaud), #17 Deven Kropf (assisted by Zilke) and #89 Jon Jutzi
(assisted by Killing).
The 3rd period resulted in each team scoring a
goal, with Tavistock striking first at 13:37 thanks to #14 Drew Gerth (assisted
by Kienapple/Mike Noyes) while Ripley was able to tie things up with 8:09 to
go. After fighting off a 5 on 3 Ripley
PP, the game would need overtime to find a winner for Game 5.
The 1st period of overtime had the Royals in the driver’s
seat in terms of possession, but unable to get the puck past Ripley’s starter
Hamilton.
It took about 6 mins of the 2nd overtime period
for Ripley’s Captain #16 Garett Meurs to catch the Royals off guard and find
the back of the net, fighting of elimination with a 6-5 double OT win and force
a game 6 Sunday afternoon in Tavistock.
Game 6 action began with a 2:30 puck drop Sunday afternoon
in Tavistock in front of 600+ hockey loving fans. Deadlocked for the opening minutes, Ripley
was first to strike with a goal at 2:52 while Tavi was able to answer right
back at 1:09 with #91 Erik Robichaud (assisted by Gerth/Kienapple) scoring the
tying goal. 1-1 after the first.
2nd period action saw the teams trade goals in
the opening minutes but the result after 2 periods of play was a 2-2 tie. Royals #8 Mike Noyes (assisted by Robichaud/Greg
Noyes) had the lone marker that period.
With a chance to win the series and move on to the AA
finals, the Royals offense took control of the game, netting 3 goals that
started with #12 Greg Noyes (assisted by Gerth) at 12:35, #20 Tristan Hohl
(assisted by Robichaud/Gerth) at 10:12 and an empty netter from #25 Jeremy
Munro (assisted by Robichaud/Cam Leslie) with 47 secs left. After 60 mins of physical play, the Royals
earned took Game 6 and earned a 4-2 series to punch their ticket to the AA
finals with a chance to defend.
The Royals will now face Minto with action starting next
weekend. Schedule coming soon!