Ontario Hockey Association

The Burford Bulldogs pulled even with the Wellesley Applejacks in the opening round of the Southern Ontario Junior Hockey League playoffs with two wins over the weekend. Wellesley lost 7-3 on home ice Feb. 23 in game three of the series and followed that up with a 6-5 double overtime loss the next night in Burford. The series resumed Wednesday, Feb. 27 in Burford but as of press time the results from game five were not known. In game three of the series, Burford held a 2-0 lead after the first period. Early in the second period, 36 seconds in to be exact, the Bulldogs took a 3-0 lead as the rebound was picked up and fired past Chris Russwurm in the Wellesley net. At 15:57 of the second period, the Bulldogs picked up the puck at their own blue-line and got a breakaway on Russwurm. The puck was fired into the opposite corner past the Applejacks’ goaltender to give Burford the 4-0 lead. Russwurm was replaced in net after that goal by Luke Zehr. Wellesley managed to get on the board at 14:01 of the second period, as Scott Hanley converted on passes from Brett VanGerwen and Owen Engel. The game was a rough one, with several pushing and shoving matches throughout the contest but those were quickly broken up by the linesmen who prevented several fights. The ’Jacks managed to cut the Burford lead to 4-2 at 11:35 of the third period, with a quick wristshot from the faceoff area to the Burford goaltender’s left. The puck beat him high blocker side. Scott Litt earned the goal, with assists to Brock Gerber and Aaron Ryan. On a delayed penalty, Wellesley got the score to within one goal, as Ryan put the puck past the Bulldogs netminder. Burford’s goaltender, Mike Henrique, was using a teammate’s stick during the play as his was behind the net. Will Metske assisted on Ryan’s goal. That was as close as the ’Jacks could come though, as Burford scored three unanswered goal over the next six minutes to take the 7-3 lead. The last goal came into an empty net with 44 seconds left. Game six is set for tomorrow night (Saturday, March 1) at 7:30 p.m. in Wellesley.