The Elora Rocks completed their run for an undefeated regular season last weekend, working extra time in their final two games to finish with a 20-0 record.
Roddy Bauman scored in overtime as the Rocks downed the Shelburne Muskies 5-4 last Friday night in Elora. A night later, the Rocks needed to work overtime plus a little more as they beat the Palmerston 81s 6-5 in a shootout.
In Elora, the Rocks fell behind 2-0 to the Muskies after Shelburne scored twice in the opening five minutes of the game. Rich Colwill responded by scoring two goals in a three-minute span to tie the game up halfway through the first. Brad Horan scored the only goal of the second period to give the ‘Fish a 3-2 lead after 40 minutes of play.
Elora stormed in front by scoring twice in less than two minutes - Bauman scored  just over five minutes into the third to tie the game, while Ken Dunn scored unassisted to put the Rocks in front for the first time shortly after that. Derek Smith made sure there would be free hockey for everyone when he scored his second goal of the game with 6:21 to play in regulation.
Bauman made sure the fans went home happy when he hooked up with Mike Brito on a 2-on-1 break, beating Rob Senay to finish things just over two minutes into the extra frame.
John Lunney, Steve Walters, Brito (2), Jeremy Machin and Rich Shantz finished with assists.
At Palmerston to finish the schedule on Saturday night, the Rocks made things a little tougher on themselves than they would have liked. After building a 2-1 lead after the first period, Elora got goals from Brito and Lunney to stretch their lead to 4-1 early in the second. Palmerston responded with two goals in 1:01 to make it a 4-3 game, but the Rocks’ Tyler Leggo scored to give Elora a 5-3 lead halfway through the second.
Brook Cochrane scored to make it a 5-4 game late in the second period, while Curtis Pinder tied things up early in the third. As regulation time wound down, Elora controlled the puck for long stretches in the 81s’ zone but couldn’t beat Scott Walls for the go-ahead score. Bauman had a chance to put Elora back in front late in regulation but his shot rang off the crossbar behind Walls.
In the five-minute overtime period Elora dominated the play, using a powerplay to keep control of the puck in the offensive zone for nearly the full two minutes. Walls kept Elora frustrated, forcing the shootout.
Machin missed in Elora’s first attempt while Palmerston’s first shooter beat Cam Crawford, but Lunney, Brito, Walters and Leggo scored while Crawford stopped two of the next three 81s shooters to earn the win.
Machin and Ryan DeBoer added the other Rocks goals, while assists went to Brito, Pat Shantz, Josh Taylor, Leggo, Machin, Matt Snider (2), Colwill, Walters and DeBoer.
Following the win, Rocks coach Kevin Lobsinger said he really wasn’t thinking about the perfect regular season until the second intermission on Saturday night. Getting the record is nice, but Lobsinger doesn’t think it’s going to give the Rocks any sort of edge once the playoffs get underway next weekend.
“The way we’re approaching it is why stop now,” he said. “The guys in there want to keep on winning, so why stop at 20? Why not keep on going as long as we can?”
Lobsinger still insists the sour taste of last year’s playoff defeat at the hands of the Muskies is still fresh in the Rocks’ locker room and they’re doing whatever they can to make sure it gets expunged. As for the less-than-stellar effort against the 81s to clinch the record?
“It sure wasn’t pretty, but we just kept battling,” he said. “We controlled the last 10 minutes of the game I thought, but to his credit their goalie made some big saves for them.”
For his part, Lunney was excited the Rocks finished the regular season unbeaten and believes the Rocks simply have a deep reserve they have been able to draw on when it comes to winning close, sometimes ugly games.
“We all work hard, and when you get into a game like this you just have to get back to basics when you’re struggling,” he said. “In overtime we were just trying to get the puck to the net and drive in after it. We give Palmerston full credit for working hard with a short bench.”
Lunney had extra reason to celebrate, as he captured the WOAA scoring title with 49 points. Machin finished tied for second with 48.
Elora will open the WOAA North division playoffs at home on Friday, Jan. 29, against the Shallow Lake Crushers (game time 8:30 p.m.). Game 2 in the series will be at Shallow Lake on Saturday, Jan. 30 at 8 p.m., with Game 3 in Elora on Friday, Feb. 5, at 8:30 p.m.