At the end of October, the Pirates of Picton looked to be sailing a rudderless craft.

They closed out the month losing to Frankford and Amherstview by a combined score of 17-1. Any early gains made by posting road wins against the aforementioned Huskies and Napanee Raiders seemed to be wiped out in 120 minutes of futile and inept hockey. Goal differential wise, it was possibly the worst two games played by a Picton team in decades.

But then the month of October ended and November dawned. And with the turning of the calendar, the Pirates turned a page on the 2024-25 Provincial Junior Hockey League regular season. And now, the club from Picton is the hottest in the PJHL loop and has only lost once in regulation, going 9-1-1 in their last 11 games.

The Pirates have relied on good depth and timely production up and down the lineup over their current stretch of games but it’s their gaudy defensive stats that seem to be paving the way to success.

Picton’s Goals Against Average for November was 1.19 and goaltenders Nolan Lane and Nic McGrayne had a combined save percentage of .940. Preseason prognosticators who predicted Picton would have the best stable of stoppers in the Tod looked smart in November.

“With those numbers, it’s hard not to be successful when your forwards are able to finish like we have,” Pirates coach Jamie Lane told the Gazette. “To start with, our tandem gives us an edge in net but it’s also a mix of our defensive structure and systems defending and a team buy-in from the players.”

The coach highlighted the defensive work of Picton’s energy line of Parker Mattis, Nolan Rosebush and Colby Leaver who have done yeoman’s work matching up against opposing snipers.

The coach also likes the forecheck work turned in by Gerrit Kempers and Luc Amat who have a knack of capitalizing on offensive zone turnovers. Finally, sophomore Kirk Stevenson has developed to gain the coach’s trust and Picton’s bench boss called the younger Stevenson one of his most responsible forwards in the Pirates’ lineup.

So Close in Amherstview

On Sunday, the Pirates came within an inch of downing the Amherstview Jets in overtime. In fact, it might have even been closer than that.

With under 20 seconds to play, one of Picton’s most consistent two way rearguards Owen Findlay had the game on his stick. With Jets goalie Marc Olivier Robert looking underneath himself for the puck, the disc squirted out into the slot where Mr. Findlay had the entire twine tent staring back at him.

“We still don’t know what the puck hit to not go in,” Coach Lane lamented. “We thought the game was over.”

Perhaps deflected by a defender’s stick waving in front of the goal line, the puck didn’t not fully cross the threshold and kept the Pirates from snagging the extra point.

“It was tough for Finner because he works so hard every night,” the coach added.

In its wisdom, the PJHL returned to shootouts this season to ensure no game ends in a deadlock this season.

Cole Stevenson scored for Picton in their first shootout attempt in five seasons but the Jets scored twice in the penalty shot competition to win the game 5-4.

But Picton deserved full credit for a regulation tie where they came back on the Jets three times and didn’t show much fatigue after playing the night before in Frankford.

The Jets opened the scoring in the first when Gabe Williams potted a short handed goal in the third minute of the game.

The Pirates righted themselves on the power play at the end of the frame when Mr. Kempers roofed his 14^th tally of the season with 65 seconds left to make it 1-1 after one. Zack Brooks picked up an assist on the play.

In the second, Mr. Williams doubled down with a power play marker at 5:37 but Picton’s Trevor Brooks caught Kaleb Baldwin cruising through the high slot just under three minutes later and the Picton defender beat Noah Chin to the high glove side to even the game at 2-2.

The Pirates would grab their only lead of the contest when Mr. Findlay teed up a power play drive from Aiden Treverton at 11:45 but that lead lasted less than 30 seconds as the host Jets had an excellent push back shift and Jack Kedwell re-squared the affair off a deflection at 12:15.

Tied 3-3, the clubs traded goals in the third.

Mr. Williams was able to split the Pirates defence at the 4:04 mark to put Amherstview ahead 4-3 but Zack Brooks spotted Mr. Treverton at the lip of the crease and the Picton veterans combined for a game-tying goal at the midway point of the frame.

Huskies tamed again

On Saturday evening, the Pirates made their second stop of the season at the Frankford Husky den and emerged with their second road victory in as many visits.

The Huskies lead the Tod Division with 40 points and have only suffered five losses but two of them have come at the hands of the Bucs and neither game was in doubt in the waning moments.

After being out of the Picton lineup while the club was on an eight game winning streak, rookie Dorian Rimmer jumped back into the Bucs plans and made an immediate impact.

Lurking in the slot, Mr. Rimmer received a back hand cross-crease pass from a Frankford defenceman and cashed in the charity, beating Huskies goaltender Dean Spry to the glove side 3:10 into the game.

Later in the opening stanza, Mr. Kempers made a pass in tight to Cole Stevenson who roofed the puck on a Picton power play with under five minutes to go to double the Pirates lead.

Picton was quick on the puck in the second and rookie Keagan Carr beat out a Pirates icing violation. Mr. Carr found Mr. Kempers in the slot area and the Ameilasburgh native was automatic at 5:04 to extend the Pirates lead to 3-0. Mr. Rimmer had a couple of key scoring chances in the second and even drew a penalty shot attempt midway through the stanza

With not much going in Frankford’s favour midway through the third period, Huskies coach Pat Shearer tried one of his trademark early pulls of his net minder during a two man advantage power play. The Huskies couldn’t capitalize during a short 6-on-3 opportunity and when Colby Leaver finally emerged from the Picton sin bin, he was able to strip a Frankford defender of the puck and fire a clutch insurance goal into the yawning cage.

Frankford’s Keenan Wiles finally solved Picton’s Nolan Lane on the power play at 14:45 to make it a 4-1 game. Husky Ben Smith added a power play goal with five seconds left in the contest to make it a 4-2 final.

Nolan Lane made 42 saves in the win.

Shaded by the Raiders

On Thursday, the Pirates were badly outshot by the visiting Napanee Raiders but it was thanks to Nolan Lane the club had a puncher’s chance at the end of the contest.

Napanee peppered the Picton mesh mansion with 17 shots in the opening 20 minutes and added another 27 in the second.

Working on an early power play in the second stanza, Andrew Carr slipped the puck to Christos Chronis in the slot at 45 seconds and the shot beat Nolan Lane for a 1-0 lead.

At the 5:32 mark of the second, Ben White found Spencer Cranley streaking to the Picton goal and the Raiders’ veteran had a tap-in to push visitors to a 2-0 lead.

In the third, Picton carved the Raider’s margin in half when Trevor Brooks batted home a rebound off the stick of Mr. Kempers at 7:02 to make it 2-1.

Picton had a few chances to get the contest back to even but Napane netminder Logan Vale made 16 stops, many of the acrobatic kind to keep his club ahead by a goal.

The Pirates look to continue their hot play this weekend with a home-and-home series with the Trent Hills Thunder. The series kicks off in Picton on Thursday and winds up in Campbellford on Sunday. The former Cambellford Rebels squad sent the Tod Division a notice they won’t be kicked around any longer when they topped the Amherstview Jets at home 3-2 Friday night.