Peterborough U16 AAA Petes Eliminated From OHL Cup After Semifinal Loss

The journey for the OHL Cup ended for the Peterborough U16 AAA Petes as they suffered a 4-2 loss to the Vaughan Kings in the semifinals of the playoffs at the Scotiabank Pond Rink in Toronto on Saturday night.

The Petes had a perfect penalty kill during round-robin play, sharing the honour with the Barrie Colts. Photo courtesy of the Peterborough U16 AAA Petes.

The Petes had qualified for the playoffs on tiebreakers with a 2-2 record of the Lindros Division to advance.

Their first opponent was a quarterfinal matchup against the Toronto Nationals who won their division with a 3-1 record.

Toronto drew first blood as Matthew Sarabando scored just over five minutes in for an early 1-0 lead. Peterborough countered quickly as Kaiden Harmon tied it up just 30 seconds after the first goal. The Petes were not done yet as Josh Avery tacked on another for Peterborough just under 90 seconds later for a 2-1 lead heading into the second.

Peterborough put Toronto’s goaltender James Meridith under siege. They peppered him with 14 shots in the period, the most of either team but the score remained the same going into the final frame.

Play was back and forth for almost 12 minutes until Kieran Riley tied the game for Toronto as the period’s only goal.

Overtime ran short as Harmon played the hero for Peterborough, scoring the game-winning goal with an assist from Lucas Moore to advance to the semifinals in a 3-2 win.

Wil McFadden got things started early for Peterborough against Vaughan, scoring 1:55 for a 1-0 lead. Things went downhill for the Petes as they allowed three consecutive goals from Carter Kostuch, Mason Kim and Vasily Serov respectively for a 3-1 deficit after the first period.

Peterborough kept themselves in the game, scoring the second stanza’s only goal from Cohen Bidgood to make it 3-2 into the third.

The Petes did all they could to tie the game, firing 13 shots to Vaughan’s four. Unfortunately, the Kings’s goaltender Aleksei Medvedev stood tall when it counted and stopped them all. Vaughan scored an empty-netter to punch their ticket to the OHL Cup championship as Peterborough was eliminated by a score of 4-2.

The 4-2-0 Vaughan Kings and 6-0-0 Toronto Jr. Canadiens will compete for the OHL Cup title on Monday. These two teams played each other in their first game of the tournament with the Canadiens winning in a 5-1 convincing fashion on Wednesday morning.

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