Orr Wants Red Line Back

The event itself was promoted and hyped by local media allowing this to take centre stage as far as Junior hockey goes and clearly it lived up to it’s billing.

Luke Green Interview

The players travelled from various regions in Canada (Coast to Coast) with two QMJHL stars Pascal Laberge (Victoriaville Tigres) and Pierre-Luc Dubois (Cape Breton Screaming Eagles) leading Team Orr to a 3-2 win.

They managed to connect for the winning goal (third period) 11 seconds after Team Cherry fought back tying the game at two.

A sweet passing play caused by a turnover in the neutral zone allowed Laberge to find Dubois on a nifty give-and-go allowing Laberge to grab two goals and one assist earned him Jim Gregory Player of the Game.

The win allowed Team Orr to take a sixth (6^th) straight win which dates back to 2011.

“Dubois and I played together at Under-17’s and we had good chemistry together tonight,” said Laberge post-game. “It’s just an amazing feeling and my line-mates and I worked really well together out there.”

Hometown fan favourite of the Vancouver Giants Ty Ronning found the back of the net at 3:09 of the first after working magic with Sarnia Sting Jordan Kyrou.

Ronning’s first attempt went off the pad of Everett Silvertip netminder Carter Hart, but Ronning’s learned some tricks from his Dad (Cliff) and somehow stayed with the play.

Team Cherry goaltender Evan Fitzpatrick of the Sherbrooke Phoenix was great making a huge save off QMJHL opponent Dubois early on only to be followed up with impressive saves off Jack Kopacka of the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds.

Fitzpatrick finished his half of the game with 17 saves turning aside chances from Alexander Nylander (Mississauga Steelheads) and Max Jones (London Knights) off the rush.

Fitzpatrick was replaced by Zach Sawchenko of the Moose Jaw Warriors replaced Evan Fitzpatrick while the other end saw Carter Hart replaced by Dylan Wells of the Peterborough Petes after turning aside 15 of the 16 shots he faced.

After two periods Team Cherry held a 22-20 with both clubs even on the scoreboard being tied at one.

After a relatively cautious opening half of the third, Wells would be tested in goal for Team Orr as he was forced to make big-time saves off defenceman Sean Day (Mississauga Steelheads) as he beat his man coming in off the blue-line and, moments later, big winger Tim Gettinger (Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds) on the doorstep.

Wells managed to keep the game tied long enough for Laberge to strike for his second of the night on the PP at the 10:20 mark of the third.

Team Orr managed to capitalize on a turnover in the centre zone 11 seconds later allowing Dubois to work a give-and-go with Laberge.

This allowed both of the QMJHL forwards to register their third point of the night on the game’s eventual winner.

Team Cherry fought hard in the final minutes, but exceptional goaltending from Wells helped lead Team Orr to its sixth straight victory with a 3-2 decision in Vancouver.

Laberge was named game star for Team Orr, Michael McLeod of the Mississauga Steelheads received the award for Team Cherry.

Despite being outshot 36-27, Orr earned his ninth win in 13 games behind the bench against his counterpart Cherry who falls to a coaching record of 5-11.

Thanks to the Vancouver Giants for hosting such an impressive event.

Following the event a media “scrum” was held and when I asked Bobby Orr about the game today he had some interesting comments, which were shown on Sportsnet.

Laird also got the “Thumbs up” from Don Cherry following the game.

Thumbs-Up

Thanks to the Sportswave crew as well as Delta TV for the coverage of this.

Game Summary

http://www.sportsnet.ca/hockey/juniors/gotta-hear-it-orr-wants-the-red-line-back-in-nhl/