This season’s Stayner Siskins are a fire-brand hockey team that knows how to put the puck in the net.
The Junior C hockey team has scored 39 goals and allowed just 10 in five games and sport a 4-1 record. Their only blemish came against the defending league champions’ Alliston Hornets, 4-2, on Sept. 16. In their other four games, the Siskins have scored no fewer than eight goals a game.
Says Stayner’s general manager Richard Gauthier, “How can you complain when you score goals like that?”
He did point out that although the goals are plentiful the players need to stay disciplined and prevent bad habits from forming. This will be the key to this club’s success against the better teams in the league and during the post-season.
Last night, Stayner got a good chance to see any improvement in their play and how they stack up against the Alliston Hornets, an upper echelon team and one of the best in the province for most of this decade. (It is quite exciting to find out how Stayner did in this match, as at time of writing this story, the game was three days away and the outcome wouldn’t be available by this newspaper’s deadline.) The two teams are expected to duke it out for the league title this season.
Siskins coach Dave Steel has a big job to teach the players the discipline to win against top opponents. The task is becoming more and more apparent because Alliston has no desire to relinquish their position from top of the throne. Alliston continues to improve, recently signing Derek Board, a prominent forward who played three years for the Aurora Tigers.
Stayner did go tic-for-tac by adding a defenseman to their defensive corps. Tristen Park, a 17-year-old, who had a good run at making the Trenton Golden Hawks Tier II Junior A hockey team, recently inked a Siskins card.
“He’s going to be a huge asset for us,” says Gauthier.
Honeywood’s Zach Trott, a rookie on the team, is currently leading the team in scoring with seven goals having feasted on Schomberg Cougars in an uncommon Thursday night away game, Sept. 29, winning 8-2, by notching a hat-trick. Other Stayner goals came from the sticks of Jake Rowbotham, Jackson Clarke, JD Falconer, and power play markers by Sean Healy and Ben Skuce. Stayner goaltender Hayden Ford blocked 26 of 28 shots.
The following night in Midland, Stayner celebrated goals 10 times in their easy 10-2 win over Midland Flyers. Trott and JD Falconer led the scoring brigade with two goals apiece. Clicking for single tallies were Healy, Clarke, Michael Holmes, Nolan King, Kevin Boyd and Kyle Paulitzki. Siskins netminder Ford had a relatively calm night stopping 14 shots of the 16 that came his way.
On Friday, Sept. 23, the Siskins beat the Penetang Kings 8-1 in another away game. Rowbotham, a Stayner minor hockey hockey alumnus, scored his first and second goals of his Junior hockey career to be worthy of noting. His first marker came at 9:29 of the first period with King and Austin Fischer assisting. His second goal and Stayner’s seventh was earned 8:24 through the third, King and Mack Falconer helping out.
Lucas Jeffery, who also learned the game on Stayner ice, finally clicked for his first goal of the season, shorthanded late in the second period. Jeffery’s goal has taken five games to come this season. Last season, the sniper drilled pucks 22 times into the mesh and assisted on another 22.
In this game, Mack Falconer, 2, and Park also scored their first goals of the year. Ben Hughes and JD Falconer rounded out the scoring. Menary saved 31 shots.
Stayner’s next two games are against the Caledon Golden Hawks, Sunday, 6:30 p.m. start in Caledon, and back home Thursday beginning at 8:10 p.m.