Shognosh Shines as Peterborough Forces Game Six

Just yesterday, it seemed that the two OJLL semi-final series were headed in opposite directions. With Orangeville returning home to Tony Rose with the potential to lock up a finals birth and the Whitby series locked at 2-2, it felt as if the Northmen were looking at a few extra days of rest. 

But nobody told that to the Peterborough Lakers, who pulled off their second victory of the series at Tony Rose to extend the series to a crucial game six. With the Beaches victory last night, that series will head to game six as well, meaning that both series are in exactly the same position, with the home teams looking to force game seven. 

I was in attendance last night at Tony Rose and on the call for the OJLL, if you missed it, check out the full stream below. 

And without further ado, let’s get into some key takeaways from the game.

Shognosh Is Up To The Task 

I wrote after the first round that Peterborough goaltender Waukiigan Shognosh clearly had his work cut out for him. As the youngest goaltender remaining and the only one without NLL experience, he was the outlier of the group. That’s not to mention the daunting task of playing the top-ranked Northmen and having to play inside a packed Tony Rose arena.

Last night, the netminder looked extremely comfortable, holding Orangeville to 7 goals and leading his team to victory. I was particularly impressed with his ability to remain composed and hold the line at a few key moments. 

The first was after the early goal from Dylan Sanderson, who scored less than a minute into the game. In an elimination game for the Lakers, early goals can often induce panic from the opposing team, especially in between the pipes. But Shognosh looked unbothered, and righted the ship quickly. 

The second was during the Orangeville run in the second period, where the Northmen scored four unanswered goals. With the score 6-4, the game was dangerously close to getting away from Peterborough. But Shognosh did enough to keep them in the game and they clawed back to even. 

Then finally, he held the Northmen scoreless for the entire third period, an incredibly impressive feat for any goaltender. This save with 4:30 left in the game was arguably his most important of the night, and was a big part in clinching the victory for the Green and Blue. 

Trends Hold True

I wrote yesterday about two trends that I have noticed so far in the playoffs. 

The first was the unusual finding that road teams have had a lot of success in these playoffs, especially in the semi-finals. After Peterborough’s victory last night, the road teams in the two series were a combined 8-2, with the only two home victories coming for Orangeville in game one and Beaches in game five. 

Traditional logic would suggest that both series might be likely to go the full seven, given that the teams looking to extend are both hosting game six. But neither Peterborough nor Whitby has won a home game in this series. 

The other trend was that 8 goals would be the magic number for the Orangeville series. In other words, whichever team could score 8 goals would win the game. 

This once again proved true, with the 8-7 victory for the Lakers. The losing team in this series has not yet reached 8 goals once in what has been significantly tighter checking than the series out east. Scoring typically gets harder the longer the series goes, so don’t expect this number to change a whole lot. 

Can Anyone Unlock Transition? 

The key to the victory last night for the Lakers (aside from Shognosh) was their balanced scoring. They got goals from seven different players with only one (Nick Roode) scoring more than one. 

Orangeville on the other hand only got goals from four players, with two each from Liam Matthews, Dylan Sanderson and Max Kruger, and another from Owen Rahn. Ayden Matthews and Trey Deere have both been extremely productive and had their looks last night, and it’s likely they will find the back of the net soon. 

But the curious thing is that neither team got a goal from a defender. Transition defence has clearly been a point of focus for the teams, and there hasn’t been a ton of risk taking in unsettled situations. This is one of the reasons why the scoring has been so low. 

This has been true for most of the series. Sean Costigan scored for Orangeville in garbage time of game four, but that was the only goal from a defender in that game. Dylan Lee scored one for the Lakers in game three, and Sam Trumble scored shorthanded in game one. 

So that means the Northmen have gotten a single goal from their backend, and Peterborough has just two. With more and more attention (and physicality) being devoted towards the stars up front, can any of the defenders find an opportunistic moment to get on the board? 

I will be watching for that on Wednesday. Thanks for reading, and enjoy the games this week!