The Elora Mohawks got the second half of their season off to the right start, winning both of their games last weekend to stay on top of the Midwest Division.
Elora pounded the visiting Guelph Regals on Saturday, May 29, to the tune of a 10-2 win, and then downed the London Blue Devils 10-6 in London a night later to improve their record to 10-1-1.
Against Guelph, the Mohawks made sure there would be no repeat of the 9-9 tie they had to suffer through on May 9. They scored five goals in each of the first two periods to put to rest any hope Guelph had of pulling off an upset.
Dan Keane got things started with a powerplay goal a little more than halfway through the first period, but Elora added four more goals in less than three minutes of play to make it a 5-0 lead with 4:32 to play in the period.
Kyle Goss got things going for Elora in the second, and the Tribe's dominant run in the frame was capped when Evan Benham scored his second goal of the night with less than a second remaining on the clock.
Keane finished with five points (2 goals, 3 assists), while Shane MacDonald (2,2), Mark Pfohl (2,1), Benham (2 goals), Goss (1,1), Todd Scarrow (1,1), Jake Weidner (3 assists), Brent Murphy, Kyle Dobbie, Ricky McGarr and Alex Gleeson (1 assist each) also had points. McGarr made 43 saves to pick up the win, while Jeremy Snider made 353 saves on 44 shots to take the loss for Guelph. Riley Hunt replaced Snider after nine goals, making 13 saves on 14 shots.
In London, the Mohawks traded goals with the Blue Devils for the first period before they took control in the second half of the game. Tied at 4-4 just five minutes into the second, Elora got goals from Dobbie and Brady Heseltine to give themselves a cushion headed into the third period. London's Brendan Chess cut into that lead 1:55 into the third, but MacDonald and Scarrow scored two minutes apart to snuff out London's hopes of a comeback.
Weidner had five points to lead Elora (1,4), while Scarrow (2,2), Heseltine (3,1), Jordan Denny (1,1), Dobbie (1,2), MacDonald, Jake Quarrie (1 goal each), Pfohl (2 assists), Luke Raftis, Jason Bauer, Steve Hutchison and Dan Humphrey (1 assist each) rounded out the scoring for Elora. Chess led the London attack with three goals.
Humphrey earned the win in goal for the Tribe, stopping 28 of 34 shots. Shawn Snow had 38 saves on 48 shots in taking the loss.
Mohawks coach Dean George said he was happy with how the Tribe played, turning in two solid bounce-back efforts following their loss in Owen Sound.
"I thought we played with more energy and more speed than we did in Owen Sound, and that was nice to see coming back after our first loss of the year," he said. "We were flat up there, but we looked 10 times better against Guelph and in London."
With the size advantage London enjoyed on their back door, George said he was happy to see how his team worked for inside shots rather than settle for ones at the dotted line. He's hoping that work ethic sticks around when Owen Sound comes calling on the Mohawks this week.
"This is a huge game for us because we're four points up on the North Stars with eight games to play," he said. "I think we're going to need to win our division and get that second seed for the playoffs, so if we can win over Owen Sound this week and get to six points up with seven games left, I think we'll be feeling pretty good."
After the North Stars visit (Wednesday, June 2 - 8 p.m.), Elora has a busy weekend. They start on Saturday, June 5, in Windsor against the Clippers, and then come back home to take on the Regals Sunday, June 6, at 7 p.m. The Mohawks will then welcome the undefeated Six Nationis Rebels to town on Wednesday, June 9, for an 8 p.m. start.
"We've got some tough games coming up, but we can't afford to look any further ahead then our next game with Owen Sound this week," George said. "We'll deal with them and then shift our focus to Windsor and Guelph on the weekend."