MORRISBURG – Needing a single point to win the Atom B Championship, the South Dundas Lions picked up two points with their decisive 6-2 victory over the North Dundas Demons Thursday (March 12th).
Leading up to game four, the Lions and Demons tied the first two games in the first-to-five-point series. South Dundas won game three in Chesterville March 10th 4-3.
Game four was almost cancelled with the players at the arena. Scheduled for 7 p.m., Hockey Canada announced a postponement of all hockey-related activities as a precautionary action in light of the Coronavirus pandemic at 7:03 p.m. Officials agreed to let the game proceed.
Less than two minute in, South Dundas was on the scoreboard and within four minutes was up 2-0 against North Dundas. Connor McCurdy (from Joel Onstein and Austin Workman) potted the first goal, while Brody Ortwein (from Evelyn Cooper and Daymon Julien) scored the second goal.
Ortwein (from Simon Martens and John McCann) scored with just 59.3 seconds remaining in the second period to make it a 3-0 game. Then with 17 seconds left, the North Dundas offence pushed past the South Dundas blue line with Kade Young (unassisted) scoring. In a flurry of action after the puck drop, McCurdy (from Martens and McCann) scored with 1.6 left in the period. Lions led 4-1 going into the final frame.
The Demons cut the Lions’ lead in half early in the third period. Young (from Ethan DeJong) found his way around Lions’ goalie Evelyn Cooper eight seconds in. Lions led 4-2. Two minutes later, Martens scored his first of two goals in the period, his first at 2:13 into the period, then again at 5:01 (short-handed) in. Both goals were unassisted breakaway goals. The Lions defeated the Demons 6-2 to win the 2019-20 Atom B championship.
How the team got there
The Lions finished the regular season in second place with a record of 20 wins, 4 losses and 4 ties, four points behind first place North Dundas (23-3-2).
South Dundas swept the first round of the playoffs, defeating South Grenville. After losing game one of the second round, the Lions bounced back winning the next two games against the Leeds Chargers to punch their ticket into the championship.
