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Ontario Jr. A playoffs kicked off last night, with game one of all four match-ups going off and half the teams going home happy. The Orangeville Northmen doubled up on the Brampton Excelsiors 10-5, Six Nations Arrows dropped the Peterborough Lakers 9-5, St. Catharines Athletics edged out the K-W Braves 6-4, and in the closest game of the night the Akwesasne Indians took the one game lead by squeaking by the Burlington Chiefs 6-5.

It was a breakout second period that served the Northmen well in their 10-5 win. Six unanswered goals broke the game wide open, with a lot of big names getting in on the action. Matt Macleod, Brandon Ivey, Todd Hosmer, Adam Jones, Jon Harnett, and Stephen Keogh each scored in the pivotal period, with Hosmer and Ivey tallying two each in the game. Nick Rose made 29 saves for the winners, while Tyler Carlson made 27 in a losing effort. Jordan Coffey scored three for the Excelsiors. The teams meet again on Wednesday in Brampton.

The Six Nations Arrows didn’t find their rhythm until the third period, but when they did they branched out for five goals and held the Lakers to one to wipe away the 4-4 tie that had followed the teams from the second period and end things 9-5. Cody Jamieson had three goals and two assists, while Ben Reaume had seven helpers, including four in the third period. Kyle Clancy had two goals for the Lakers. The Arrows fired 50 shots on Peterborough goalie Ryan Masters, who turned away 41. Angus Goodleaf stopped 27. Game two is tonight at 8:00 at the Peterborough Memorial Centre.

It was a wild one in St. Catharines last night, where the K-W Braves set the tone of the evening by forgetting their jerseys and hitting the floor dressed as yesteryear’s Niagara Falls Gamblers. The lead flipped back and forth and the two teams were neck-and-neck until the third period where the Braves inexplicably had a game-tying goal waved off which set off a series of events that ended in a line brawl after a Corey Small marker put the A’s up 6-4. After 90 minutes worth of penalties were assessed, the remaining ten minutes of the game were played uneventfully. The Braves travel back to St. Catharines on Wednesday.

In the final game of the evening, it started out being all Burlington with the Chiefs holding a 4-0 lead until seven minutes into the second where Akwesasne exploded for six unanswered goals in the period, four of which were courtesy of Kyle Buchanan. Burlington’s Matt Hicks got one back in the third period but it wasn’t enough for the Chiefs. Akwesasne’s Justin Delormier stopped 38 and Burlington’s Gary Muzzin turned away 46 in the face of a 52 shot firing squad. Game two takes place Wednesday in Burlington.

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