Alliston Hornets claim GMOHL championship

March 19, 2016 · 0 Comments

The Alliston Junior C Hornets have done it again!

The team won their eighth Georgian Mid Ontario Junior C Hockey League championship with a 4-2 win in game four of their best-of-seven final series against the Penetang Kings in Penetang on Sunday, March 13.

The Hornets swept the final series beginning with a 6-3 win in game one on home ice in Alliston on March 4.

They followed up, taking Game Two 3 – 2 and delivering a 4 – 1 win in Game Three to set up the final showdown in Penetang.

The final game turned out to be a pretty evenly matched battle with Alliston leading 2 – 1 at the end of the first period.

The Hornets went ahead by two in the second frame when Jordan Schwartz made good on a penalty shot and beat Kings goalie Andrew North to give the Alliston squad the edge early in the period.

Penetang fought back hard in the second period trying to find that goal to get them back in the game.

They closed the gap at the five minute mark in the third period to make it a 3 – 2 game but Alliston’s Nick Arcan put the cap on the series with a shot to the top shelf with four minutes remaining.

The game ended with a 4 – 2 win for the Hornets and the GMOHL championship in the record books.

“When you start the season I don’t know how you’re record’s going to go, but I think we worked hard and competed hard,” said Hornets head coach Darrin Shannon after the game. “I think we were the most deserving team to be here but I think Penetang did a great job and they forced us to work hard to do it. That’s the goal: every year you want to keep winning and ultimately we’ve accomplished that so far and we’ve got to keep moving ahead.”

The Hornets ended the regular season in first place with a 35-2-3 record and dispatched the Schomberg Cougars in the quarter-final before moving on to the semi-final round and eliminating the Erin Shamrocks in six games.

The Hornets will now go on to the first round of the Schmalz Cup Provincial Junior C championship.

They will face the winner of the Western Junior C Hockey League.

The Walkerton Hawks are currently leading that final series 3-2 over the Kincardine Bulldogs.

By Brian Lockhart