The Milton Menace had two tight games this past weekend, and couldn’t get the win in one of them.
Let’s start with Friday night. The Menace went into Markham to take on the Royals. It was an action heavy game, with Milton jumping out to a 1-0 lead 3:32 into the first period. Aidan Hughes scored the goal, with assists from Owen Forester and Lucas Buzziol. Justin O’Donnell then made it two-goal game for Milton. Luca Rea and Cory Liu got the assists. It was 2-0 after 20 minutes.
In the second period, Rea added a goal of his own. O’Donnell got the assist, alongside Connor Driscoll. A minute later, Tristan Tremble scored for Milton, with an assist from Liu. Two minutes after that goal, Buzziol made it a 5-0 game. His goal was assisted by Bradley Banach and Cole Semeniuk. Markham would score to make it 5-1, but with three seconds left in the second period, Marco Iozzo would score on the powerplay to add to the score. Hughes and Buzziol got assists. It was 6-1 Milton after two periods.
The third period got a little wild. Markham would twice in 1:17 of time. Milton then added a seventh goal Ryan O’Toole got onto the board. That was assisted by Iozzo. The Royals then rallied their comeback, scoring three goals in the final seven minutes of play. The Menace were able to shut the door on the game-tying goal, winning the game 7-6.
Christian Trianni was the goaltender in net for Milton, according to the box score. The action packed third period gave him 22 saves on 28 shots, good for a .785% save percentage.
The Menace then came home for a game against the Wellington Dukes. The Menace were riding high after being labelled the best Junior A team in Canada and narrowly escaping defeat on Friday night. While the Dukes are a solid team, you could label this a trap game for Milton.
And the Menace fell for that trap. Wellington scored 27 seconds into the game. After some chances, the period ended 1-0 Dukes after the first period.
The Menace were the first to score in the second period. Aidan Hughes buried a powerplay goal with help from Marco Iozzo and Cole Semeniuk. The Dukes took the lead again, before Milton tied it at two. Buzziol scored on the powerplay, with assists from Owen Forester and Hughes. It was 2-2 after two.
The Dukes would score late in the third, giving Wellington the 3-2 win over Milton. It was Milton’s first loss in regulation this season, and their first loss overall since September 19th when they lost 4-3 in overtime to the Collingwood Blues at the OJHL Governors Showcase in Cobourg.
Will Goumas was in net for the Menace on Sunday afternoon. He got the loss, with 23 saves on 26 shots, which puts him at a .884% save percentage.
The Milton Menace are now 13-1-0-1 through 15 games. That puts them at 27 points on the season. They are first in the North/West Conference and second in the OJHL behind the Toronto Jr. Canadiens, who have played 17 games with a 15-2-0-0 record, good for 30 points.
The Menace next play on Friday, October 28th when they take on the Aurora Tigers at the Milton Memorial Arena. Game-time is scheduled for 7:30 p.m.
Milton Menace home tickets for this OJHL season can be found here.
