COLLINGWOOD, ON - MARCH 29: Milton Menace celebrate defeating the Collingwood Blues in Round 2 at the Eddie Bush Memorial Arena on March 29, 2024 in Ontario, Canada (Photo by Jamie Green / OJHL Images)
The Milton Menace are off to the next round!
Heading into the weekend, the Menace found themselves up 2-1 in the second round series against the Collingwood Blues.
Game four was on Friday, March 28th at the Milton Memorial Arena, in front of 1205 people in attendance.
It was the Captain of the Menace who got them on the board first, with Graeme MacAuley netting his 4th of the postseason. Roughly 30 seconds later, Madden MacDougall scored his 10th of the playoffs. Collingwood would get on the board before MacAuley scored his 2nd of the game. He’d bury the hattrick goal late in the period after another Blues goal, making 4-2 Milton after 20 minutes of back-and-forth action.
In the second period, Collingwood would pull within one before Luke Johnston and Ivan Fabjan would go back-to-back. As the period was winding down, the Blues would answer with a pair of goals of their own. That made it 6-5 Milton heading into the final frame.
It’d be tight end to the game, with Johnston burying the dagger with a few minutes to spare. Ashtyn Pacheco would then follow up with an empty netter, giving the Menace the 8-5 win over Collingwood.
Carter Bickle played the role of Grant Fuhr in this game, stopping just enough to get the win. He made 26 saves on 31 shots, giving him the .838% save percentage on the night.
It was a quick turnaround for the game five.
The game took place on Saturday, March 29th at the Eddie Bush Memorial Arena in Collingwood, in front of a smaller crowd of 1185 people.
With game four being all offence, game five started off tighter. No one wanted to make the first mistake, and that meant the first period would be scoreless. Collingwood led 11-6 in shots, with neither team serving a penalty.
The powerplay would help in the second period though, as Madden MacDougall banged home his 11th of the postseason. It’d give the Menace a 1-0 lead heading into the final period.
Collingwood ended up responded with a powerplay goal of their in the third. Milton’s ‘Moose’ Luke Johnston then took back the lead, and Ivan Fabjan would add an insurance marker with five minutes to go. They needed it, as Collingwood scored late, but not enough times to matter. Milton beat Collingwood 3-2, clinching the 4-1 series win.
Carter Bickle worked the second night of the back-to-back, stopping 28 of 30 shots, giving him the .933% save percentage.
The Menace now head to the OJHL West Conference Final. They’re take on the Leamington Flyers, who have swept the Niagara Falls Canucks and the Buffalo Jr. Sabres this postseason.
We’ll keep you updated on when games for the third round series are announced. Expect Milton to be at home for games two and four.
If you have a news tip or story idea, you can now send us a heads up via email at:
- News1013@LocalRadio.ca (Milton)
- News1015@LocalRadio.ca (Orangeville)
- News92@LocalRadio.ca (South Simcoe)
If you’d like to get ahold of me personally, shoot me a message at Cameron.Wilkinson@LocalRadio.ca. We’re in the business of content creation, so no idea is a bad idea.
