Sunday, February 16th, 2025

Alliston Hornets are once again the class of the Georgian Mid Ontario Junior C Hockey League leading the other eight clubs by a comfortable margin already. The real race in this league is who will finish second.

Midland Flyers currently holds down this spot although it is not very secure. A good example of this is the Stayner Siskins beating them 4-1 there last Friday night.

“We played a great game. Everyone was aware of their jobs,” commented Siskins general manager Richard Gauthier.

The victory was Stayner’s fifth of the year and pushed them into a tie for third place with the Huntsville Otters with 19 points, three points behind Midland.

Alliston, 14-2-0, leads not only in points but significantly in goals for and goals against. Their goaltenders have a miniscule 1.50 goals against average and the offense has scored 76 times in 16 games.

Stayner and Midland have the second best goals average at 3.06 and Huntsville is second in goals for, eight less than the Hornets in the same amount of games. Stayner has scored 60 times in 16 games, 3.75 gf/g, which is about the league average.

These statistics make it quite clear that the other teams need to score more and give up less goals to be able to compete with Alliston, one of the top clubs in the province for over a decade.

December 1st is an important date for Junior hockey clubs in this province. This is the day teams start to cut players and although this can be devastating to some players, it can also dramatically change the look and chemistry of a team. Gauthier says he will be looking to improve his club.

Gauthier’s biggest peeve is the team is not consistent in their play.

“We’re Jekyl and Hyde and up and down like a toilet seat,” he mused.

Gauthier was lamenting on the 8-6 win versus Erin Thursday night at home. He said if the club didn’t score four consecutive second period goals in a little over a minute the club would have lost to Erin, who only dressed 10 skaters. Stayner was trailing when Ricky Darrell, 2, Kyle Lafreniere, and Isaac Swanton notched those goals. Stayner’s other goals throughout the game were scored by Lafreniere, Kyle Paulitzki and Ben Skuce, 2.

One minute we’re really good and then we’re not for five more minutes, he added. If we work hard and be consistent we would win our games.

Despite what Gauthier has to say Stayner is on a mini-winning streak defeating their last three opponents. The game against Penetang, 5-4, the day before Halloween was their victory that started the streak.

Gauthier does hope the club makes it win number 4 this Thursday at home against Penetang and win number 5 in a special game played in Creemore this Saturday against Orillia. The Saturday night game starts at 7:30 p.m. while the Thursday games begins at its usual 8:10 p.m. start.

Stayner should have Sean Healy back in the line-up very soon after having suffered a shoulder injury early in the season. He is considered one of the club’s better scorers and his return would help the club immediately. Veteran defenceman Ryan Hudson is also still nursing an injury.

Brendon Skidmore and Ryan Hyndman are sitting in the bleaches because of suspensions.

Scoring Stayner’s goals against Midland were Darrell, 2, Lucas Jeffery and Lucas Ryerse. Darrell tied for second in league scoring with 16 goals and 10 assists. Other Siskins in the league’s top 25 scorers are Jeffery, 8 goals and 12 assists, and rookie Jordan Taylor.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *