02-05-2025
First goal boosts Barons to semifinal series win over Napanee Raiders
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A goal that was scored with nearly 40 minutes still left to play was being called the game's most important one as the Napanee Raiders and Hanover Barons clashed Thursday night in Game 7 of their Provincial Junior Hockey League semifinal.
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Coming only 40 seconds into the second period on a power play, the tally snapped a scoreless tie and gave the Barons just the boost they needed to down the home-ice Raiders — despite there being almost two full periods (39:20) remaining.
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The teams traded the next two goals of the middle frame, leaving Hanover with a 2-1 lead, and then the visitors outscored the Raiders 3-1 in the third (including an empty-net goal) to capture the game, 5-2, and the best-of-seven series, 4-3.
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'They are a hard team to play against when you have to open up and let your guard down defensively to push for more offence. We tried to continue to come back with offensive pushes, but they continually answered, and that is what good teams do this time of year.'
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Barons star forward Mark McIntosh, who chalked up four points (two goals, two assists) in the game for a series-high total of 15 points (seven goals, eight assists), netted the momentum-generating first marker and then drew an assist on Kyle Maloney's goal at 13:02. Napanee's Blake Aylesworth, at 16:27, narrowed the gap to 2-1.
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To lead off the third period, McIntosh, a 21-year-old from Elora who paced the Barons in the regular season with a 28-44-72 scoring line and enters the PJHL final with a league-high post-season scoring line of 23-31-54, scored on a power play at 7:07. He was followed 53 seconds later by Napanee's Trent Williams, making the score 3-2 in Hanover's favour.
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Hagerman was proud of the way his team played during the regular season and playoffs.
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'Yeah, this was a close-knit group that came together after the Christmas break like I have never seen before,' he said. 'They never let adversity get them down. They constantly just worked and put the team first day after day. This was a special group that I hope made the community proud.'
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Napanee entered the break (Dec. 23 to Jan. 1) in third place in Tod Division standings, seven points back of the eventual pennant-winning Frankford Huskies. The Raiders went 13-1-1 the rest of the way to finish second, just two points behind Frankford and 10 ahead of the No. 3 Amherstview Jets.
