Photos: Tim Bates / OJHL Images
TRENTON, Ont. – OJHL Oates saw Cameron Eke tally twice, and set-up two others, to lead the way in a 5-0 decision over NOJHL East Wednesday morning in the final day of the Eastern Canada Cup All-Star Challenge at Duncan McDonald Memorial Community Gardens.
The best opportunity to commence the scoring came nearly nine minutes in, but saw Daniel Dirracolo (Powassan Voodoos) flash the leather with a tremendous glove save, from point-range range, on OJHL Oates’ Ty Petrou.
They did convert on their next chance though as the OJHL side came in on a three-on-two which had Pickell send a pass across to Jack Rimmer, who was left with a gaping net to easily steer in his chance, from a couple of feet away.
Going up by a pair in the final stanza, OJHL Oates pressured a turnover in the NOJHL end, which resulted in Pickell being spotted in the slot and ripping one into the left corner at 5:51.
Continuing to press, they added another less than a minute later when Eke pumped a shot from the point that was chipped in by Petrou, who was parked to the right of the crease.
Needing a win in regulation to have any hope of advancing to the semifinals, Team East pulled Dirracolo with plenty of time remaining to try and get closer, but Eke helped seal the win by scoring shorthanded, into the empty net, from his own territory with six minutes to play.
Eke then capped off the victory by finishing off a Pickell feed, on which Dirracolo was left with little chance on.
Despite the defeat, Dirracolo was solid, making 36 saves, while the OJHL’s Sebastian Gatto finished with 12 stops in posting the shutout.
Picking up their respective player of the game honours were Alexander Case (Powassan Voodoos) and Ben-Chaim Larkin.
“Highlight of the Night” – NOJHL YouTube Channel
