A few days rest seemed to help the Lakeshore Canadiens recover from a 5-overtime win last Wednesday against Wheatley. The Habs opened the Stobbs division final in Essex with a convincing 5-1 win over the 73's.
"I think we did what we had to do to get the win but there are lots of areas for improvement." said Canadiens head coach Anthony Iaquinta.
Lakeshore opened the scoring at 8:48 of the first as Aydon Novacco tallied for the visitors on the powerplay. Matteo notched his 4th of the playoffs at 5:33 of the second putting the 73's on their heels.
"We had some opportunities early on that didn't go in and unfortunately they capitalized on their chances." said Essex head coach Jamie McDermott.
His team cut the deficit in half as Austin Guevremont scored his 10th of the playoffs midway through the second. That's as close as Essex would get as Lakeshore scored three unanswered for the victory.
Romano Liburdi stopped 32 of 33 shots while Marco Sladoje, Braydin Metcalfe, Matteo Frattaroli and Kyle Walker each had a goal and an assist for the Canadiens who have a 1-0 series lead heading home.
"We'll get back at it Thursday night and be ready for game 2." said McDermott.
Video courtesy of Ric Albano.
The Leamington Flyers lost 3-1 Tuesday night at St. Mary's but will have a chance to win the Western Conference title at home Thursday night.
The Windsor Spitfires face elimination Thursday night in Kitchener after dropping a 6-3 decision Tuesday night at the Aud. Windsor trails the best-of-seven series 3-0.