All-NL battle: St. John's, Clarenville fight for spot in Allan Cup final
An all-Newfoundland battle is coming up today in Southern Ontario.
The Clarenville Ford Caribous take on the Rooftech St. John's Caps in semifinal action Friday, April 25, at the Allan Cup Challenge in Flamborough, Ontario.
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The Caps defeated the Stoney Creek Tigers 4-3 in their quarter-final on April 23 to advance to the semifinals, while Clarenville received a bye to the semifinal after winning their round robin group.
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The Caps got goals from Joel Bishop, James Melindy, Dylan MacKenzie, and Kyle McGrath, with McGrath's tally being the game winner in the third period.
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Kyle Downer made 32 saves to record his first win of the tournament.
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Former St. John's Maple Leaf, David Ling, suited up for the Tigers, but was ejected from the game in the second period on a checking from behind penalty.
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'It's nice to see the guys gelling together,' says St. John's head coach Scott Bray. 'Sometimes the bounces don't go your way when you're not giving that 100 per cent effort, and today was an obvious case where we had 20 guys ready to go. Bounces went our way because we worked hard for those bounces.'
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Clarenville is unbeaten thus far at the Allan Cup Challenge, defeating the Dundas Real McCoys 4-3 and the Stoney Creek Tigers 5-0 to top their group.
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Bray says he knows it will take another full team effort from the Caps to land a spot in Saturday's final.
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'They're a fantastic team,' Bray says of the Caribou. 'They're familiar to us, which is different in this tournament. I'm sure there'll be a lot of passion in the game on Friday.'
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The Newfoundland squads clash in the first semifinal at 5 p.m. NL time on Friday, with the winner moving on to the championship on Saturday, April 26.
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