Three unanswered third-period goals catapulted the Tweed Oil Kings into the Sentinel Cup finals last weekend in Deseronto.
Oil Kings earned a 5-4 road win Saturday to sweep the best-of-five NPHL Western Conference final against the hometown Deseronto Bulldogs 3-0, recording their sixth straight playoff victory and setting up a Sentinel Cup final versus the Eastern Conference champion Manotick Mariners.
OIL KINGS 5, BULLDOGS 4
Each of the three Western Conference championship series contests between the local rivals were decided by one goal and Game 3 was no different. In Deseronto, the host Bulldogs, looking to stay alive in the series, wiped out an early 2-0 Tweed lead with four straight goals but Tweed rallied for the win, starting with a shorthanded marker by Jacob Vreugdenhill and followed by tallies from Mac Lowry and Dawson Ellis.
The earlier Tweed goals were supplied by Jakob Brahaney and Elijah Brahaney. Scoring for Deseronto were Jason Shaw, Nathan Hudgin, Ryan Verbeek and Jacob Friend. Top playmakers were Colin Doyle of Tweed with three assists and Deseronto’s Jacob Panetta with a pair.
Everett Reid made a whopping 69 saves in net for the victorious Oil Kings while his Bulldogs counterpart, Corey Kuypers, turned aside 38 enemy shots.
In Game 4 of the Eastern Conference final Sunday, Manotick got the overtime winner from Ryan Lough to clinch the series 3-1 with a tight 3-2 triumph over the perennial league powerhouse North Dundas Rockets.
ON DECK: Tweed vs. Manotick for the NPHL Sentinel Cup; best-of-five schedule TBA.
