History Repeats Itself As Peterborough U16 AAA Petes Get Eliminated In OHL Cup Semifinals For a Second Consecutive Year

For the second straight year, the Peterborough U16 AAA Petes were eliminated in the semifinals of the OHL Cup by the same opponent, the Vaughan Kings, in a 3-0 loss at the Scotiabank Pond in Toronto on Thursday night.

The Petes lost to the Vaughan Kings in last year’s OHL Cup, 4-2, on April Fools Day. pHOTO courtesy of Peterborough U16 AAA Petes.

It was a battle of the undefeated as both teams boasted a 5-0 record heading into the semifinal. The winner would take on the Oakville Rangers, who narrowly defeated the North York Rangers, 6-5, earlier that day.

Peterborough struggled to muster any offense in the first period as they registered three shots on net. The Kings had 13 shots, one of which was courtesy of Cole Emerton. With just over four minutes left in the stanza, the Petes turned the puck over in the defensive zone; Emerton intercepted the pass and was uncontested in his shot to make it 1-0 Kings.

Vaughan extended their lead with a one-timer at point-blank range from Caleb Malhotra, was seemingly stopped by Petes Morgan Hyndman but the puck was sitting at the line. Peterborough tried to clear the puck but the referee deemed the puck had crossed and it was 2-0, Kings over Petes.

Things would not improve for the Petes as one of their top prospects, Colin Fitzgerald, took a tripping penalty, putting the Kings on the powerplay. It only took 10 seconds for Vaughan to capitalize, as Alessandro Di Iorio took a shot from just outside the faceoff circle and ripped it through traffic for a 3-0 lead.

It was all or nothing for the Petes in the period to try and erase a three-goal deficit. Fitzgerald had an opportunity to get Peterborough on the board with a breakaway. He tried the five-hold of Kings goaltender Justin Young but he closed the door on any chance of a comeback and made the save. The Petes outshot the Kings for the first time in any period with 6-4 but none found the back of the net. Peterborough was eliminated from the OHL Cup by a 3-0 score.

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