The Picton Pirates held the edge on the Lakefield Chiefs early in the Provincial Junior Hockey League’s 2024-25 regular season.

The contests were incredibly close early on with Picton picking up a pair of early 3-1 victories that were essentially one goal, playoff atmosphere-type affairs notwithstanding two Pirates empty net goals.

The games featuring the Pirates and Chiefs continued to be close as the season wore on.

In December, the host Chiefs picked up their first win over the visiting Pirates in a thrilling 2-1 overtime decision. At the end of the year, a home-and-home series revealed little. Picton won another 3-1 game and the Chiefs held serve in the finale, shading Picton 4-3 in their only regulation win over the locals.

So it stood to reason that when teams hooked up in the first round of the 2025 PJHL playoffs, it might be a knock down, drag out affair where the higher seeded Pirates would need six or seven games to vanquish their lower ranked counterparts from Central Ontario.

So much for reasoning and projection.

The Chiefs made short work of the Pirates this postseason and the Privateers from Picton limped back into port Tuesday night after going down in four games.

The contests were close including a Game Two thriller in Lakefield where Picton battled back from a three goal deficit in the third period only to lose 5-4 in overtime. Just when the Pirates figured they had an answer for Lakefield netminder Ayden Bulmer, the Ennismore native would change the question.

Picton could just not get ahead and stay ahead of Lakefield in this short and sour affair.

In terms of scoring, the Pirates did have a bright spot as Gerrit Kempers fired home six goals in the four game series. But Picton’s offensive punch stopped short after that.

Pirates General Manager Allan Etmanski admitted bowing out of the Schmalz Cup playoffs so soon was an incredibly tough pill to swallow but gave high marks to the opposition. He added a consistent march to the sin bin didn’t help. Picton tied the Chiefs on the powerplay in the series 5-5, but the Pirates seemed to have a knack for momentum-killing minors over the four meetings.

“We knew all year that Lakefield was a team built for playoffs. Our discipline was an issue, but a bounce here or there could’ve changed the whole series. They get full marks for the win and won’t be easy to play against,” Mr. Etmanski said.

The Chiefs will line up against the Tod Division champion Frankford Huskies in Round Two of the PJHL playoffs.

The Pirates will spend some time rehashing their hasty postseason exit. However the squad should be recognized for a very solid regular season. Their 26-13-2 record was the best mark for the team since 2018-19. Picton was in the mix for first overall into January.

“Overall, I feel we took a lot of big strides this season. The Tod division is as competitive as it’s ever been and on any night, anyone could beat any team. We were there all year long and showed we can ice a competitive junior team Prince Edward County can be proud of,” the GM said.

Bench boss Jamie Lane and his staff were awarded with the PJHL Coaching Staff of the Year award prior to the playoffs and Mr. Etmanski said his skipper has foundation to build off of for next year.

“We have good pieces returning and there’s some high level talent that wants to be Pirates. The future is bright and exciting.”