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By Josh Wegman
The Ottawa West Golden Knights are off to the Eastern Ontario Junior ‘B’ Hockey League finals against the Casselman Vikings after finishing off their Metro/Valley Conference Championship series on Saturday, March 29, eliminating the Almonte Thunder in six games.
Home ice advantage was a critical factor in the series as each team was able to win in their own barn until Game 6 when the Golden Knights shutout the Thunder by a score of 3-0. The dark and gloomy lighting at the Almonte Community Centre was no problem for goaltender Eric Plumadore as he turned aside all 31 shots he faced.
A key turning point in the series came when Golden Knights head coach Steve Sundin decided to assign his third leading scorer from the regular season, Jeff Gottzmann, to stick with Almonte forward Luke Martin and shut him down. Martin had been tearing apart the Golden Knights’ defence early in the series, notching five goals and four assists in the first four games.
“Jeff did a fantastic job containing Luke Martin,” highlights Sundin. “Martin was killing us early in the series but Jeff bottled him up and kept him pointless.”
Gottzman picked up four points in the series, including an assist in his first game playing the shutdown role.
Offensively, the Golden Knights were led by Phil Edgar, who put up 12 points in the series, including an impressive six-point performance in Game 5, highlighted by a beautiful goal on the heels of a toe-drag around the defender.
Also averaging two points per game in the series was Dave Kilrea, who registered at least a point in every game.
The club’s consistent ability to put the puck in the back of the net was crucial, but this kind of outburst didn’t happen overnight, Sundin notes.
“I think the players have bought into what we preach as a coaching staff and it paid off for us in this series,” he adds.
Sundin stuck with a simple, yet extremely effective, strategy to matchup against a speedy Almonte Thunder team.
“We bottled up the neutral zone, had a third guy high and we were disciplined,” recalls Sundin. “We shot the puck low and at the net. That was the game plan and it was a good result.”
The Golden Knights outscored Almonte 27-16 in the series despite having nine players injured. The team will hope to get some of these bodies back before they kick off their series against Casselman on Thursday, April 3 at Barbara Ann Scott Arena. The Golden Knights last won the EOJHL league title in 2009.