Preds lose in three straight to Renegades

After giving the North York Renegades a scare in their first two games, losing game three 7-2 was not the way the Niagara Predators wanted to see their season come to an end. 

The Renegades netted four goals in the second and another pair in the third period at home Sunday to oust Niagara in the second round of the Greater Metro Junior A Hockey League’s South Division semi-final in three straight. 

It’s the second year in a row that the Predators lost in the second round to the Renegades, though in 2021-2022 they did manage to win one of four against them. 

Two of their top scorers, Anthony Tropea and Nolan Wyers, were back in the lineup after missing Saturday’s 5-3 loss due to injuries. But a number of the team’s top players went down during Sunday’s game, which may have had some influence on the outcome.

The evening started out well for the Preds, despite them giving up a goal to Daniel Johnson, who tipped in a slapshot from teammate Jedidja Somersall in the first five minutes to give North York a 1-0 lead. 

Niagara had a number of scoring chances through the first period, with Renegades goaltender NIck Lewicky robbing Alex Andrews twice during a Preds power play. 

But with 55 seconds left to go in the period, Andrews was called for tripping North York’s Chrispher Rende. Before the play was stopped, he followed Rende into the Predators crease and cross-checked him into the net. On his way to the penalty box, he had some words for the referee, who ousted him from the game for being penalized three times on the same play. 

Both Timur Mirzaiants and Tropea had breakaway chances in the second period, but Lewicky stopped the former’s shot with his blocker, and the latter’s attempt went wide of the net. 

Rende was a factor in the second Renegades’ goal four minutes into the second period. Rende swooped in on the Niagara net and backhanded a shot that Predators goalie Ryan Santini easily stopped, but the puck sat on the ice behind him. Nikolai Salov followed up and tapped it in for a 2-0 lead. 

About 11 minutes later Rende himself scored a shorthanded goal just 13 seconds after teammate Ryan Fritz was sent to the penalty box for hooking. 

The Preds finally got on the board during that same power play with 4:13 remaining in the second, with a Guy Manco blast from the blueline that Lewicky couldn’t handle. 

But Manco took a hooking penalty of his own shortly after that, and North York’s Joe Lionti scored on the power play. With 2:34 remaining in the second, fourth-line forward Austin Fata netted the Renegades’ fourth of the period on a wraparound goal that fooled Santini. 

Cameron Savoie got one back for the Preds on a power play midway through the third period, closing the gap to 5-2. And Niagara had three other failed power play opportunities, including a couple of five-on-three situations. 

With about six minutes remaining, Cameron Savoie missed a body check on Nikolai Salov beside the Predators net. He slammed into the boards and lay on the ice for some time before being walked off by trainer Rachel Zeliznak. 

“He dislocated his collarbone,” head coach Kevin Taylor told The Local. “As of right now he doesn’t need surgery, but he has to go back to get it checked out again. He was battling and just lost his footing.”

Savoie’s linemate Declan Fogarty was also out with an injury, as was second-line forward Leo Savin, forcing Taylor to mix up his lines more than he wanted to. 

Only 27 seconds after Savoie left the ice, Ryan Fritz beat Santini in the top left corner. Gianlui Amato added a seventh goal for the Renegades with 3:39 remaining in the game.

“It’s a disappointing way to end the season,” Taylor said. “Looking back, though, I think we lost the series in the second game. That was a really tough loss (the game was tied 3-3 until the Renegades scored in the final two minutes). I’m not saying we would have won the series, but we would probably have been able to take it to five games.”

Having Alex Andrews’ season end the way it did was especially disheartening for the coach. It could possibly be the last competitive game for the 21-year old forward. 

“He wants to become a cop,” Taylor informed The Local. “I’m pretty sure he’s going to focus on that, and that he won’t play anywhere next year. He works as a security guard right now. What a tough way to end his junior career last night.”

Left to come for the Predators is to clean out their room at Virgil’s Meridian Credit Union Arena, and for Taylor and the coaching staff to hold exit interviews with each of the players. 

“Our jobs aren’t done yet,” he said of the coaching staff, general manager Andrew Ferlatte, and team president and owner Robert Turnbull. “We have to start making the phone calls to get some of the over-agers to their next place. For some that will be college.”

As of Monday evening, North York was waits to play the winner of the series between Durham and Bradford in a best-of-seven series for the South Division championship.The Bulls were up 1-0 in the best-of-five semi-final.