durhamregion.com

Whitby Dunlops to face Brantford Blast in Allan Cup Hockey semifinals

Dundas Real McCoys and Stoney Creek Generals meet in other semi

Brian McNair
bmcnair@durhamregion.com

WHITBY -- The Whitby Dunlops have become, for a brief spell anyway, fans of the team they’ve learned to hate in the Allan Cup Hockey league.
It won’t last past the first round of the playoffs, mind you, but should the Dunlops take care of their own business against the Brantford Blast in one semifinal, and the Dundas Real McCoys are able to defeat the Stoney Creek Generals in the other, then Whitby would earn a berth at the Allan Cup national championship this year.
With the tournament being held in Dundas, two spots are available to Ontario teams, and one of them guaranteed to the Real McCoys, the team that meets them in the final would get that berth. Should Stoney Creek upset Dundas in the first round, then only the team that wins the championship would move on.
“Everyone has played really well in the last month, which is what you hope to see at this time of the year,” said Dunlops coach Mike Posavad, who is taking nothing for granted. “It’ll be good for the league. It’s going to be a great playoffs.”
The Real McCoys have bolstered their lineup with a few former NHL players and were able to take first place away from the Dunlops, primarily on the strength of a 7-3 win in Whitby last Thursday.
But the top four teams were fairly close in the standings, with Dundas (18-4-0-2) finishing one point ahead of Whitby (18-5-0-1), five ahead of Brantford (16-7-0-1) and eight up on Stoney Creek (14-8-1-1).
“We feel we’re as competitive as anybody,” Posavad said. “You just have to peak and do the right things at the right time. Anyone can win. We’re just hoping that it’s us.”
The Blast jumped out to a quick start this season, winning the first eight games, but slipped in the second half. Head-to-head play reflected that, as Brantford won the first two meetings and Whitby the final two.
“Brantford’s been a premier team in this league and I don’t expect that to be any different this series,” Posavad said. “They have a lot of experience, they’re fast, they’ve got good defence and their goaltending is outstanding. What we really have to do is concentrate on our strengths, which is our speed, try to keep pressure in the other team’s end, but you always have to be ready.”
The Dunlops are led offensively by first-year player John Scrymgeour, who had three goals and six points in a 12-0 romp over Welland in Saturday’s season finale and ended up tied atop the league scoring leaders with 49 points in 18 games, including 21 goals.
Patrick Jobb, Shane Terry, Brett McConnachie and Peter MacKellar are also among the league leaders in points, but Posavad recognizes success may rely on new goalie Ryan Gibb, a former Oshawa General who had five wins and one shootout loss in six starts since joining the team.
“He’s a competitor and we looking forward to seeing him do his thing in the net,” Posavad said.
The best-of-seven series opens in Brantford Friday with the next two in Whitby, on Saturday and Tuesday.

The schedule

Whitby Dunlops vs. Brantford Blast
Game 1: Friday, Feb. 28 in Brantford, 7:45 p.m.
Game 2: Saturday, March 1 at Iroquois Park, 6:30 p.m.
Game 3: Tuesday, March 4 at Iroquois Park, 8 p.m.
Game 4: Friday, March 7 in Brantford, 7:45 p.m.
x-Game 5: Saturday, March 8 at Iroquois Park, 6:30 p.m.
x-Game 6: Friday, March 14 in Brantford, 7:45 p.m.
x-Game 7: Sunday, March 16 at Iroquois Park, time TBD
(x-if necessary)

Oshawa Generals’ Scott Laughton finds offence in defensive role

Canadian junior team captain getting hot again with OHL playoffs looming

Brian McNair
bmcnair@durhamregion.com

OSHAWA -- Any thoughts that Scott Laughton was drawing off the energy of Canada’s Olympic gold medal win earlier in the day were quickly shot down by the Oshawa Generals star on Sunday night.
He was feeding off something, to be sure, but it was a good night’s rest that was more important to Laughton, who turned in a stellar three-goal, four-point effort in a 7-2 romp over the Kingston Frontenacs at the General Motors Centre.
“I’m not much of a guy that wakes up early,” said Laughton, who caught only the tail end of Canada’s efficient 3-0 win over Sweden Sunday morning. “I wanted to get good rest for this game tonight and it paid off.”
Indeed it did.
Laughton, who was captain of Canada’s world junior team this year, scored his third hat trick of the season and fifth of his OHL career on the strength of three pin-point shots.
He opened the scoring on the power play midway through the first period, ripping home a rebound high to Matt Mahalak’s stick side, then scored the final two on booming slap shots, one to the glove side through a crowd and the other off the cross bar after he intercepted a Kingston clearing attempt.
“The legs were a little bit tight at the beginning so I didn’t know what to expect, but when you get a goal early there, I think you feed off of it, and every time I’ve scored in the first period this year, I’ve felt really good,” explained Laughton. “It was a really good team win.”
It was the third win of the weekend for the Generals, and second over Kingston, all but wrapping up first place in the East Division and Eastern Conference. Oshawa (39-16-0-5) has moved 15 points ahead of Kingston (32-22-2-2) in the division and 14 up on Sudbury (30-20-3-6) in the conference.
“Our goal has obviously changed since the start of the year,” said coach D.J. Smith, who expected to be fighting for a playoff spot. “But we know the playoffs are what count. We’ve got to try to lock this up, the Eastern Conference, and then that we keep rolling right in through the playoffs.”
Smith has all hands on deck right now, with three lines playing well, six solid defencemen and two hot goalies. But he knows it’s Laughton who stirs the drink, even in the shut-down role he’s been given.
“Since he’s taken on the role of the shut-down guy, he also forces the other team’s top players to play defence,” Smith said. “It’s a lot easier to play defence when you’re in the offensive zone. He’s committing to defence and the offence is coming to him.
“When he plays like that there’s likely not a better player in the league.”
Laughton admitted he experienced somewhat of a letdown after he returned from Sweden and the world junior championships, where Canada finished a disappointing fourth. He’s back up to full speed now, though, and has moved into the top-10 in league scoring with 37 goals and 80 points in just 48 games.
On Monday he was named the OHL player of the week on the strength of four goals and seven points in four games.
“After world juniors I kind of caught myself cheating and not playing as well on defence,” he explained. “As soon as I was put in the role to play other teams top lines, I started taking pride in it and it was good for me. When other top lines try to cheat for offence, that’s when you go.
“Everything’s coming together and we’ve got to keep moving forward,” he added of the team in general. “We can’t look back on this weekend and glide into next weekend. We’ve got to come out with a bang and play like we lost one.
“We want to finish strong going into playoffs.”