Close Quarters

 

JASON PARKS
PICTON GAZETTE-EDITOR

It will be a fight to the finish in the Provincial Junior Hockey League’s Tod Division.

With just two games left in their regular season, the Picton Pirates will be doing some scoreboard watching as teams directly below them hold games in hand on the locals.

With a record of 25-12-2, Picton had a tenuous hold on third place with 53 points. Amherstivew, who trails Picton by one point, visits here Thursday night and has two games in hand on the Bucs.

Meanwhile, the Lakefield Chiefs aren’t completely out of the picture as of yet. If the Pirates falter in their final two games, Lakefield could take five or six points in their final three games and slide past Picton into fourth place, forcing the Pirates to start the 2025 PJHL playoffs on the road at the Lakefield-Smith Community Centre.

There will be no less an opportune time for the Pirates to finally figure out how to beat the Amherstview Jets this season than Thursday night. In regulation if you please.

Missed Opportunity

Picton had a chance to solidify a lock on fourth place in the Tod on Tuesday night but couldn’t find a way to get ahead of the Chiefs in Lakefield. Special teams were a big part of Picton’s downfall in the four point game as the Chiefs blistered the Pirates penalty kill unit for two power play goals and added a short handed effort that paced the hosts in a 4-3 win.

Picton had a pair of power play goals with Colby Leaver and Cole Lavender lighting the lamp with the man advantage. Mr. Lavender also set up captain Zack Brooks with a second left in the second period to tie the game at 3-3 heading into the final stanza but the Pirates, who overcame three one goal deficits, couldn’t bang home an equalizer late in the contest.

Home Win

On Thursday, the visiting Port Hope Panthers had goals early in the first and late in the third period but the Pirates tickled the twine seven times in between in a 7-2 drubbing.

Down 1-0 after one, the Pirates came to life in the second. Mr. Leaver would net his 13^th and 14^th tally of the year while Luc Amat and Aiden Treverton snapped singles to make it a 4-1 Pirates lead after 40 minutes.

In the third, Sam MacDonald banged home his third of the season off a scramble. Picton’s nicest goal of the night came at the 8:02 mark when Cole Stevenson sprang Mr. Trevorton on a shorthanded breakaway. The Picton scorer made a nice move in the slot and tucked a backhand past Port Hope’s Braden Henderson to make it 6-1 Picton. Gerrit Kempers potted his 21^st of the year on the power play at the midway mark to add to the Picton deluge.

Port Hope’s Cole Papageorgiou managed a goal late to make it a 7-2 final.

Road Woes

The following night Picton was wishing some of their offensive output would have carried over as they were blanked in Napanee 4-0.

The host Raiders got the game winning goal off the stick of Jackson Barnes at the 12:14 mark of the first. Ben White, Christos Chronis and Reid Lambert also scored.

After hosting Amherstview on Thursday, the Pirates sit idle through the weekend and wind up the regular season against the Frankford Huskies at home on Thursday, February 13.