Kings forward Knox Stevens had a goal for his club in Game Three of the U11 OMHA Regional Finals in Wellington Thursday night. (Jason Parks/Gazette Staff)
It was one of those classic minor hockey playoff games that you never want to end.
The visiting Bancroft Jets and the hosts, the U11 Prince Edward County Kings, treated 500 plus fans in Lehigh Arena Thursday night to a wonderful hockey game that, unfortunately, didn’t go the right way.
The Jets and goaltender Aiden Ferreira held on by the skin of their teeth in the deciding Game Three of the Eastern League Regional finals 3-2. The Kings fell tantalizingly short of punching their ticket to the OMHA U11 Championships in Kingston this week.
It wasn’t for lack of trying in the game’s final frame. But a poor start saw the visitors gain a two-goal bulge in the first five minutes.
Bancroft extended their margin to 3-0 early in the second when Colton Musclow notched an unassisted effort at the 12:24 mark.
Kings netminder Lane Bulten shut the door the rest of the way and came up big time to keep the Jets from scoring a fourth goal and closing out the contest.
The Kings finally got on the scoreboard just under two minutes later, thanks to a power-play tally.
The locals passed the puck with precision around the Bancroft end. Carson Norman was able to set up Wyatt Robinson who slid the puck across the goal line at 10:48 to make the score 3-1.
Late in the period, the County buzzed the Bancroft net with regularity.
The Kings were finally rewarded when Knox Stevens pounced on a loose puck in the crease. Mr. Stevens pumped the disc past a prone Mr. Ferreira with 38 seconds left on the clock to make it 3-2.
Down a goal, the Kings owned much of the third period. With fans cheering them on, the locals tested Mr. Ferreira time and again. One Kings skater managed to beat the Jets goaltender, forward Ezra McLuhan. With about five minutes left in regulation, the winger barged down the right side and launched a rising laser beam that whizzed past the goalie — only to watch the puck tickle the cross bar and carom harmlessly to the left side of the ice.
The Kings seemed destined to jam home a goal in the late going and send the contest to overtime. The Jets picked up a pair of fouls and, with just under a minute left in regulation, the Kings had six skaters to the Jets complement of three.
Surely, this deciding match would be tied at the end of 45 minutes of play.
Certainly — if not for the heroics of young Mr. Ferreira. He was a big reason the Jets staved off elimination in a 5-4 Game Two decision in North Hastings on Sunday and there was something poetic in his return to Wellington.
Victimized for nine Kings goals in Game One on Saturday, the netminder turned in a Herculean effort. In the end, the Kings came up dry and their dreams of playing one last tournament for provincial supremacy uncoiled in their hands.
As one parent exiting the stands noted, “There’s always next season.”
Summer well young hockeyists, the rink’s return is just six months away.
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