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Frontenacs Fall To Majors
November 10, 2003
Story by: Armando D'Andrea
TORONTO - No loss is easy to take. Especially
the ones where you do everything you're
supposed to do to win.
The Kingston Frontenacs found themselves
with this bitter pill to swallow in Toronto
on Sunday afternoon, dropping a frustrating
4-1 decision against the St. Michael's Majors.
The Frontenacs matched the Majors shot for
shot and hit for hit until the last five
minutes of the third period when the Majors
pulled away with two quick goals to seal
the win.
Frontenacs assistant coach Tony Cimellaro,
while disappointed with the outcome, maintained
that he was not disappointed with the way
his team played.
"I felt we played well enough to win"
he said. "We didn't get the big save
when we needed it, and our big names didn't
make a difference today, but we still deserved
a better fate. We will build on this. If
we play like this every night we'll win
more than we'll lose."
The Eastern Division leading Frontenacs,
losers of three of their last four, kept
pace with the Central Division leading Majors
from the opening faceoff and outshot the
home team by a 41-37 tally. Each team traded
good chances and hard hits throughout the
game, with St. Mike's defenceman Scott Lehman
lifting Frontenacs forward Bobby Hughes
off his feet in the first, only to see his
teammates Cory Vitarelli and Jamie VanderVeeken
get hammered the next period by Kingston's
Drew Kivell and Bill Kinkell. The Frontenacs,
the second most penalized team in the league,
also managed to keep up with the Majors,
who are currently the most penalized team
in the league, in sending 7 players to the
penalty box to St. Mike's 8.
Majors' forward Darryl Boyce opened the
scoring in the first minute of the game,
holding the puck on a two on one and firing
it past Frontenacs goalie Dayne Davis. Frontenacs
winger Anthony Stewart tied it up on a power
play with four seconds left in the first.
Although Majors captain Tim Brent pulled
his team ahead in the second with a wrist
shot from the point on a powerplay that
beat a screened Davis, the game remained
an evenly matched stalemate with the Frontenacs
buzzing the St. Mike's net to equalize the
score. However it was in the last five minutes
of the third when Brent, scoring his second
of the game, and Majors forward Sal Peralta
scored to open the floodgates and snuff
out any Frontenac hopes for a comeback.
Stewart, the second player the Florida
Panthers picked in the first round at the
Entry Draft last year in Nashville, echoed
his coach's sentiments about disappointment
at the result but not the effort.
"We played well, the bounces just didn't
go our way," said the 6'2'' 228 pound
forward. "We can't let this get us
down. We try to take the position that 40
shots and 50 hits a night will be enough
to win, and it should've been tonight."
Frontenacs goalie Dayne Davis, who turned
aside some difficult St. Mike's chances
to keep the score close until near the game's
end, also felt that this loss was something
his team could build on.
"Absolutely. We're in a bit of a slump
right now. This was a tough game, but we
don't want to look at it as a setback. We
really want to build on this, we did a lot
of things right tonight that we can build
on."
Although the loss drops the Frontenacs
to 8-8-2 with Peterborough and Oshawa nipping
at their heels with 15 points apiece they
remain lodged in first place in the East
with 18 points. The win for St. Mike's extends
their unbeaten streak to 7 games, on the
wave of which they also remain in first
place in the Central Division at 11-8-0-2
with 23 points.
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