(Posted 10:30 a.m., March 7)
St. Matt's falls short in quest for high school hockey championship
By Fred Sherwin
Orléans Online

St. Joseph goalie Rodayo Iafelice looks back to see the puck skip past the post during one of the St. Matthew Tigers better scoring chances in their AA hockey final on Tuesday. The Jaguars won the game 3-1. Fred Sherwin/Photo

The St. Matthew Tigers ran into a hot goalie on Tuesday in the form of Rodayo Iafelice who practically stood on his head in denying the Tigers the NCSSAA 'AA' contact hockey championship on Tuesday.

Iafelice was stellar in net for the St. Joseph Jaguars, stopping at least three breakaways and turning away countless scoring opportunities in backstopping his team to a 3-1 victory in the third and deciding game of their best of three final series.

The Jaguars got on the board first with a goal from Dillon O'Neil which beat St. Matt's goalie Zach Bousquet at the 8:38 mark of the opening period.

The Tigers responded at the 11:51 mark of the second period with a goal from Shane McCrank who was set up beautifully by Greg Charbonneau.

St. Matt's had two excellent chances to take the lead near the later stages of the period on a pair of breakaways, but Iafelice was equal to the task in keeping the score tied at 1-1.

The Tigers would get another golden opportunity to take the lead on a 2-on-0 break at the 12:54 mark of the third period, but the puck just rolled past the far post, coming within inches of going into the net.

Another near goal at the 8:05 mark of the third period turned into a rush in the opposite direction for the Jaguars and the go ahead goal on O'Neil's second of the game.

The Jaguars would add an insurance marker with 4:62 left in the game to make the score 3-1 in their favour which is how the game ended.

After knocking off east end rivals Garneau in the semi-finals, the Tigers opened the final series againt St. Joseph with a convincing 3-0 shutout on Feb. 25. Two days later they came back from a 3-0 deficit to tie Game 2, only to have the Jaguars score a late goal to extend the series to a third game.

In other high school sports news, the Louis Riel Rebelles won their sixth straight 'AA' girls hockey championship on Monday when they downed the St. Joseph Jaguars 4-3 to win their final series in two straight games.

Last but certainly not least, the Gisele-Lalonde Titans took another step toward a third consecutive provincial girls AA volleyball title on Tuesday by winning their quarterfinal match against Lockerby Composite School from Sudbury

After losing the first set 26-28, they reeled off three straight wins 25-11, 25-16, and 25-22. They will play De La Salle in one of two semi-finals this morning featuring three teams from the National Capital region, Gisele-Lalonde, De La Salle and Samuel Genest.

St. Joseph goalie Rodayo Iafelice looks back to see the puck skip past the post during one of the St. Matthew Tigers better scoring chances in their AA hockey final on Tuesday. The Jaguars won the game 3-1. Fred Sherwin/Photo

(This story was made possible thanks to the generous support of our local business partners.)

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