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35| The IFP -H alton H ills | T hursday,A pril 5,2018 theifp.ca Select 2018 dates available. CONTACT: Melanie Frazer 905.877.5236, Ext: 400 mfrazer@nhgcc.ca www.nhgcc.ca BOOK YOUR 2018 TOURNAMENTBOOK YOUR 2018 TOURNAMENTBOOK YOUR 2018 TOURNAMENT t 2018Selec ble. availadates TCONTAC : FrazerMelanie xt: 400.5236, E905.877 .ca@nhgccmfrazer gcc.cawww.nh Select 2018 dates available. CONTACT: Melanie Frazer 905.877.5236, Ext: 400 mfrazer@nhgcc.ca www.nhgcc.ca Zac Elson notched his fifth goal of the playoffs and fellow blueliner Jacob Payette added two assists in the George- town Raiders' 4-2 win over the host To- ronto Patriots Monday night in Etobi- coke. The Raiders lead the Ontario Junior Hockey League South/West Confer- ence best-of-7 series 2-1 heading into Wednesday's game four in Georgetown beginning at 7:30 p.m. Getting offence at key times from the defence has again been a big reason why Greg Walters' squad has advanced to at least the conference final stage for the third year in a row, with Elson and Payette tied for the team lead in scoring. Certainly, Georgetown has received contributions from throughout the lineup to get this far, but the defence corps has accounted for a healthy one third (45 of 134) of the club's playoff points in 14 games. Elson, a 21-year-old from Courtice acquired from the rival Burlington Cou- gars in October, put the visitors into a brief 2-1 advantage late in the second pe- riod Monday for his fifth tally of the post-season - matching his regular-sea- son output. Rookie Justin Paul, scorer of the se- ries-clinching goal in overtime in the previous series against North York, pot- ted another winner in game 3 early in the final frame. Vet Matt McJannet added an insur- ance marker and netminder Troy Tim- pano was again outstanding as his side was outshot 37-24. Game 5 will be played at Westwood Arenas on Saturday at 7:45 p.m., with game 6, if necessary, back at the Alcott Arena Sunday at 6 p.m. HOCKEY D-men dynamite for Raiders in post-season run For the first time in 14 years, the Halton Hurricanes will have a representative at the Ontario Hockey Federation AAA championship tourna- ment following the successful run of the atom AAA team this season. The Hurricanes qualified for the five-team OHF atom AAA championships in Hamil- ton April 13-15 after finishing runner-up at the Ontario Mi- nor Hockey Association play- downs at St. Michael's College in Aurora last month. The other teams in the tour- nament are the host Hamilton Jr. Bulldogs, the GTHL at AAA, Waterloo Wolves and London Jr. Knights. At the OMHA atom tourna- ment in Aurora, the Hurri- canes went 3-1 in the prelimi- nary round to place first but lost 2-0 to Hamilton in the gold medal game. Their overall record this season is 53-16-15 with 264 goals for and 115 against and the Hur- ricanes have earned back-to- back South Central Triple-A (SCTA) league titles. The volunteer-coached team is led by bench boss Dar- ryl Giancola and assistants Jo- ey Tetarenko, Patrick Henne- berry, Paul O'Donnell and John Hendry, with several Hal- ton Hills players in the lineup. Team members (front, from left) are: Blake Sloan, Robyn McGill, Noah Biesenthal, Ryan Aversa, Nolan Keeler, Lochlan Tetarenko, Tanner Lawson, Mason Janicki. Back row: Ryder Graves, Cristian Giancola, Tyler Hopkins, Kyle Henneberry, Alex Hendry, Nikola Krmpotic, Colton Palmer, Jake O'Donnell, Lucas Lagoutte. Atom AAA Hurricanes photo Atom AAA Hurricanes make long-awaited return to OHFs A 3-1 loss to the Whitby Wildcats in the gold-medal game ended an ex- cellent season for the Halton Hurri- canes at the Ontario Minor Hockey Association bantam AAA playdowns this past weekend at the University of Guelph. The Hurricanes finished the regu- lar season with a 15-13-8 record and played their best hockey in the play- offs, going 2-1-1 at the playdowns be- fore bowing out to Whitby. OMHA Playdowns Preliminary round - Halton 6, Hamilton Jr. Bulldogs 1; Halton 3, Guelph Gryphons 2; Whitby Wildcats 5, Halton 2; Halton 2, North Central Predators 2 Gold medal - Whitby Wildcats 3, Halton 1 Halton Hurricanes earn OMHA silver medals Team members (front, from left) are: Braedyn McIntosh, Luke Doney, Noah Faulkner, Brennan Kennedy, Nolan Milne, Leighton Cooke, Joseph Meleca, Ethan Burroughs. Middle: Gavin Munro. Back row: Assistant coach/trainer Phil Southgate, assistant coach Todd Bannerman, Jorden Drake, Jordan Adams, Lawson Sherk, Connor Hay, Joshua Vagenas, Thomas Viveiros, Nathan Wilson, Jackson Robinson, Jacob Craft, Kyle Schoeftner, Andrew MacNeil, assistant coach Chris Taylor, head coach Rick Chisholme. Rebecca Sherk photo