Meteors drop round-robin opener
The Fort Erie Meteors fell short in the opener of the Sutherland Cup round-robin playoff series, dropping a 6-1 decision to the Listowel Cyclones Friday night in Listowel.
“We chased the game pretty much the whole time,” Meteors general manager/coach Nik Passero said. “It’s not the way we wanted to start.”
The Cyclones took a 1-0 lead halfway through the first period on a goal by Luke Ewing.
Listowel added to their lead with three more goals in the second period by Jack O’Donnell, Tate Brenner and Harrison Meulensteen to make it 4-0 after 40 minutes.
Hunter Coley’s fourth of the playoffs got Fort Erie on the board eight minutes into the third before the Cyclones rounded out the scoring with goals by Meulensteen and Brady Smith.
Listowel outshot Fort Erie 12-7 in the first, 16-7 in the second and 42-29 overall.
“I don’t think we were bad all night but we had a six or seven minute lull in the second period where we were treading water,” Passero said. “In the last month or so we’ve been able to bend but not break, but today the puck was going in. It doesn’t happen all the time and I don’t expect it to happen again.”
The Meteors host the St. Marys Lincolns of the Western Conference Saturday at 7 p.m. and Passero is confident his charges will be able to quickly turn the page.
“That’s one thing I believe our group does pretty well, just push things out of their mind,” Passero said. “We’ll be fine.”
Passero said the Lincolns can put the puck in the net.
“They have a high octane offence,” he said. “They’re just a good team that scores a lot of goals. They’re an older group but we’ll be ready for them.”
The Cyclones captured the Midwestern Conference championship defeating Stratford in five games in the final. They also swept Ayr and Caledon along the way. They finished in first place in the regular season with a 38-9 record and led the entire Greater Ontario Junior Hockey League in fewest goals permitted with 103.
“They’re well coached, very detailed. They were ready to go at home and we have to do the same at home tomorrow,” Passero said.
The Meteors also host Listowel Wednesday, April 24 and then travel to St. Marys Friday, April 26 to wrap up the round-robin portion of the playoffs. The top two teams then meet in a best-of-seven final.
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