HUNDER BAY, Ont. – The Calgary Buffaloes (Pacific) saw Carter Benoit collect a pair of goals as his side would eventually break open a tie game and go on to defeat the Thunder Bay Kings 7-4 Monday in Day 1 play at the 2019 TELUS Cup Canadian National Midget Hockey Championship at the Fort William Gardens.
It was Calgary that was first to strike in the contest as the Buffaloes forced a turnover in the Thunder Bay zone that resulted in Marco Lopez firing a shot that Kings’ starter Jordan Smith stopped, but Benoit snagged the rebound and stuffed one in to open the scoring at 4:14.
Special teams saw each side capitalize once on the power play as Braden Plaschewsky wired one from the right side that quickly flew past Smith to make it 2-0.
Picking up a two-man advantage late in the period, Thunder Bay got on the board with 61 seconds left in the first as Nicholas DeGrazia and Anthony Biniaris combined to get it over to Travis Hensrud, who fired one from the left circle that eluded Calgary goalkeeper Garin Bjorkland.
The Buffaloes got that back early in the second though as Jayden Grubbe fooled Smith from a sharp angle at 1:01.
Answering back, the Kings’ Christian Veneruzzo collected a Calgary dump in then proceeded to dart down the left wing and wire one top shelf at 12:01.
Up a pair of skaters, the hosts picked up the equalizer just over a minute later on a DeGrazia extra-man effort to knot the affair at 3-3 after two periods of play.
The final frame was all Buffaloes though as they put a 21-shot barrage on the Kings net and scored four times to secure the victory.
After Benoit added his second of the evening early in the third as Calgary’s Jack Zayat, via the power play, and Bryson Cataldo of Thunder Bay traded tallies with half a frame to go.
However, Calgary secured the opening night decision as Carter King connected just 24 seconds after Cataldo before Stephen Rosier iced it with a man advantage marker with five minutes to play to round out the scoring.
DeGrazia did have three points in defeat for the hosts.
The Kings return to the ice Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. as they take on the Tisdale Trojans (West) at 7:30 p.m. back while the Buffs go up against the Toronto Young Nationals at 4 p.m.
Final shots on goal favoured Calgary 46-26 with Bjorkland earning the win while Smith was saddled with the loss.
SUMMARY
https://hockeycanada.ca/en-ca/national-championships/men/national-midget/2019/stats/game-summary?gameid=2429
Photo credit: James Mirabelli
