The Wellesley Applejacks are up against the ropes. It’s do or die time for the Jacks as they lost two games last week and are now down 3-1 in their first round playoff series against the Ayr Centennials. After rebounding on Feb. 18 to win in overtime, the Jacks hit the road to visit the Centennials at the North Dumfries Community Complex but were unable to keep their momentum moving forward, losing the next game 5-0. “(Ayr) played very well defensively and shut us down all over the ice; we never had a really good chance at scoring a goal and we never really got near their net the whole game,” said Kevin Fitzpatrick, head coach of the Jacks. Centennials’ forward Tyler Gauthier drew first blood scoring on Wellesley netminder Josh Heer five minutes into the first frame. It would be his first of three on the night.
Ayr would continue to attack keeping the puck in Jack territory for the remainder of the period but Heer managed to keep them at bay and the Jacks returned to the room only down by one.
It was a different story after the first intermission as Gauthier tallied two more to give Ayr a 3-0 lead.
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Gauthier came out flying, slipping one past Heer in the opening minute of the second period, with Adam Brubacher and Jay Fried collecting the assists. Two minutes later he potted another to record the hat trick. The third period saw the Centennials add two more to the total as Jordan Eby scored at 11:54 and Patrick McKelvie put the final nail in the coffin just two minutes later at 13:57. Heer finished the night with 23 saves on 28 shots, while Centennial goaltender Lee Doherty had to make only 15 saves for the shutout.
Feeling the sting from their last game the Jacks were looking for revenge at home ice on Feb. 25, wasting no time in scoring first when James Mildon, who skating past the blue line, fed Rob Hinschberger who fired a one-timer past Doherty.
The Jacks would continue with the pressure only to be denied by Doherty as he made outstanding plays to keep his team within one heading into the first intermission. The second frame would be all Ayr as they potted two goals to take the lead, with Jordan Witt scoring at 2:45 and Philip Durnford scoring at 13:27. The third period opened with Ayr scoring their third when Declan Kaster beat Heer with a beautifully-timed shot over the goalie’s stick.
Down 3-1 the Jacks continued to keep the pressure on the Centennials and were rewarded with a powerplay goal when Ayr’s Eby was sent to the box for slashing. With the man advantage the Jacks potted their second of the night when Chris Bauman fed Connor McLeod who in turn fired it past Doherty at 9:04.
Just over four minutes later the Jacks would be deep in the Centennial territory when Matt Sovereign picked up the rubber and skated in behind Ayr’s net, finding Mark Hamilton on the left who would beat one Centennial player before passing to Tyler Eckert as he chipped the puck in behind the pads of Doherty to tie the game and send it into overtime.
The Jacks seemed lost when they returned to the ice during the extra period and Ayr took full advantage, scoring the winning goal off the stick of Alex Richard during a scramble in front of the Wellesley net. “We didn’t even know they scored, the only one who saw it was the referee, and I am not sure the puck really went in,” said Fitzpatrick. “Ayr didn’t celebrate, they didn’t think it went in and the referee didn’t signal it right away and we actually put the next line on the ice before the goal was given.”
The Jacks are still dealing with injuries and sickness and that was evident during Saturday’s game when the team only had 13 players ready to go. “It is so frustrating and I feel so bad for the team,” said Fitzpatrick. “We have a great goaltender that is keeping us in the game but the injuries are starting to hurt the team. I have never coached a team over the last 30 years that has had this many injuries all at the same time.” Game 5 of the series was Thursday evening in Ayr, with results unavailable before press time. Game 6, if needed, sees the teams return to Wellesley on Saturday night , with a 7:30 p.m. start
