MISSISSAUGA, Ont. — The Mississauga St. Michael’s Majors didn’t go looking for revenge, but still found it.
The Majors emerged victorious by staying disciplined and avoiding confrontation in a penalty-filled game that was won 3-1 by the host team. Mississauga will now advance to Friday’s semifinal against the winner of Thursday’s tiebreak between Owen Sound and Kootenay.
“It’s nice to beat them, but the OHL final isn’t in our mind right now,” Majors captain Casey Cizikas said. “It’s this tournament right now and it’s definitely big to get that win.”
Owen Sound took the Ontario Hockey League crown in this same building, winning in overtime of Game 7 against the Majors. But if revenge was on anyone’s mind, it wasn’t for the losing team of the championship series.
The Attack took 13 minor penalties, just three less than they had throughout the first two games combined. They spent so much time in the penalty box in the first period that they only registered three shots on Majors goalie JP Anderson.
“It’s us,” said overage forward Robby Mignardi when explaining the Attack’s parade to the penalty box. “We’ve had problems the whole year being undisciplined. Sometimes we get a little too emotional and we take penalties. It’s definitely not from lack of effort. It’s just from sometimes getting a little too overboard and not being smart.”
Mississauga got on the board first during a four-on-four situation. Attack defenceman Matt Petgrave moved up to the blue line to challenge Justin Shugg, who took a pass from Maxim Kitsyn and stepped around the Attack defender. Shugg fired a shot a few feet off the ground to Binnington’s right. The Attack goaltender got a piece of it with his blocker, but not enough to keep it out.
The Majors nearly took a 2-0 lead before the end of the first period when Devante Smith-Pelly scored a goal which was called back. The puck caromed off the back wall on a shot by Marc Cantin and Smith-Pelly got his head on it, disallowing the Majors’ would-be two-goal lead.
“We had a lot of penalties in the first period so we’re not going to be going on offence when we’re in the penalty box,” Mignardi said of the Attack’s three shots in the opening frame.
Later in the second period, Jesse Blacker retaliated after being pinned up against the boards by Brett Flemming. Blacker turned and in one fell swoop popped Flemming in the face with his glove.
Blacker then chased Flemming, who hurriedly skated away from the penalized defenceman.
“As a leader I put a little bit of onus on myself there taking a penalty,” Blacker said. “We put ourselves behind the eight ball here.”
Prior to the game, Majors head coach Dave Cameron listed these types of actions as the type the league was looking to crack back on. As a result, his Majors played a relatively disciplined game and avoided confrontations like the Blacker punch on Flemming.
“(Blacker) went back at him trying to even it up and trying to suck him into a penalty,” Cizikas said. “(Flemming) did the smart play. He skated away and he went straight to the bench. It definitely shows the maturity to him.”
But as undisciplined as the Blacker penalty was, which was taken a little over a minute after Andrew Shaw tied the game, it wasn’t the worst example. Shaw got it started with a late hip check on Cizikas in the neutral zone before Mike Halmo followed it up by running into Anderson, who was just outside the Majors’ bench with the delayed penalty call.
“A really poor choice in penalties, “Owen Sound head coach Mark Reeds said.
The Majors capitalized on the two-minute, two-man advantage. Flemming spotted Rob Flick to Binnington’s left and Flick fired it over the outstretched goalie’s glove. It was Flick’s second game-winning goal in as many games.
The Attack did not take a penalty in the third period, but were unable to generate much offence. Joey Hishon remained out of action after an injury in the first game against Kootenay while captain Garrett Wilson left in the first period and did not return.
“It’s not an excuse for us,” Mignardi said. “‘Oh, Joey Hishon’s not in the game, we can shut ‘er down now.’ It’s not like that. Yes, we could have definitely used him on the power-play the last two games, but we’re going to have to create some offence ourselves if he’s not back (on Thursday).”
