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.