It was mission accomplished for the Clarenville Caribous over the weekend as the two-time Central West Senior Hockey League champion won the first two games of the provincial senior hockey championship against the St. John’s Caps.
Veteran forward Keith Delaney scored a pair of goals as the Caribous beat the Caps 5-2 Sunday for a 2-0 lead in the best-of-seven Herder Memorial Trophy final over the winners from the fledgling East Coast Senior Hockey League.
The series shifts to metro St. John’s Friday, Saturday and, if necessary, Sunday at Torbay’s Jack Byrne Arena.
“Anytime you have home-ice advantage in a seven-game series, you want to get those first two at home. But we’re only halfway to where we want to be.”
Clarenville Caribous head coach Rebecca Russell
If the sixth and seventh games are required, they will be played back in Clarenville April 13-14.
At the Eastlink Events Centre, it was Delaney who Caribous coach Rebecca Russell credits changing the game’s momentum with a big second-period goal to put Clarenville up 3-1.
“Keith had three absolute bone-crushing hits,” Russell said. “Then Ryan (Delaney) got him the puck and he scored his second goal, all in one shift.
“It was great work by a key guy in our leadership group, and you could just feel our bench get a lift from it.”
Brandon Roach, on the power play, Chad Earle and Justin Pender also scored for the winners.
Scoring for the Caps were Cody Squires and Ryan Power.
Tyler Whiffen earned the win in goal, stopping 19 of 21 shots, while Kyle Downer suffered the loss, facing 39 shots.
“Anytime you have home-ice advantage in a seven-game series, you want to get those first two at home,” Russell said. “But we’re only halfway to where we want to be.”
Not only did St. John’s drop a pair of games, but the Caps lost two of the three strengthening players they added for the Herder.
Brandon Pye suffered a separated shoulder, while Jeremy Nicholas sustained a concussion and injured rotator cuff, putting them both out of the lineup indefinitely.
Bray said the hit that injured Nicholas was a “dirty hit from behind” by Ryan Desrosiers, who received a game misconduct on the play.
“They were two strong pickups for us, so it’s going to affect the team,” said Bray.
Friday night, Kevin Reid scored a power play goal with just over five minutes remaining in the third period to give Clarenville a 4-3 win.
Chris Sparkes, Ryan Delaney and Dustin Russell also scored for the winners. The Caps got goals from Nicholas, Jacob Pitcher and Roger Pender.
Twitter: @telysports
