Raiders drop close one to Derbys as home-ice begins to slip away

Home-ice advantage in the opening round of the OHA Provincial Jr. A Hockey League playoffs is slipping out of the grasp of the Georgetown Raiders and their road record this season isn't cause for much optimism. The fifth-place Raiders looked lacklustre in dropping a 2-1 decision to the sixth-place Derbys on Tuesday at the Vic Johnson Community Centre, bringing Streetsville to within three points of Georgetown in the West Conference standings. Each club has nine games remaining in the regular season, with the 19-15-4-2 Raiders playing six of those away from home, where they're just 610-2-1. Streetsville's Ryan Silveira netted the winner early in the third period on a breakaway deke past Raider goalie Ryan Gibb after a defensive miscue. Wade Finegan's second-period marker was the lone shot of 30 by Georgetown to beat Derby goalie David Wilson, a former Raider. With the loss, the Raiders are four points behind Burlington and six back of Oakville in the race for third spot in the conference. The Derbys, who will host the Royal Bank Cup Canadian championship tournament in May at the Powerade Centre in Brampton,

did not have deadline acquisitions Steve Tamaridis from Toronto and Buffalo's Brent Alexin in the lineup against Georgetown on Tuesday. Meanwhile, the OHA has been investigating an off-ice incident that occurred after a game last week in Hamilton between the Raiders and the host Red Wings. Members of both coaching staffs got into an altercation in a hallway of the Chedoke Arena and while police did not attend or lay charges in the incident, it's expected that the OHA will announce its ruling today. "It was an unfortunate incident, but I can tell you we didn't initiate anything," said Raiders' director of player personnel Peter Mavroudis. "We were simply trying to leave the rink when a member of Hamilton's coaching staff blocked our exit and confronted (Georgetown assistant coach) Blaine (McCauley)." The Raiders will travel to Burlington to face the Cougars tonight and will host the Bramalea Blues Saturday at the MoldMasters SportsPlex Saturday beginning at 7:30 p.m. Georgetown also has a road game Monday against the Mississauga Chargers in Port Credit.