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The Petrolia Squires finished 3rd in the South
division with a 20-6-0-0 record and only three
points back of division leading Tavistock and
Monkton for first place. With the third place finish
they will take on the Milverton 4WheelDrives in the
first round of the WOAA Sr Hockey League playoffs.
Milverton who had a 9-14-0-3 record through the
season finished with 21 points.
In
their three previous games against Milverton the
Squires have won each of them, winning 5-2 in
November, 5-3 in December and 8-6 in January.
Scoring has not been an issue for the Squires this
season as they have scored 132 goals in 26 games and
only allowed 93. Milverton has allowed 127 goals and
scored 116. But Milverton could find success on the
powerplay, as of the 8 remaining teams in the South
division, Petrolia had the highest amount of Penalty
minutes during the regular season with 647 minutes.
The
Squires will rely on their scorers to help them
passed the 4WheelDrives including Jason Polera,
whose 24 goals in only 21 games player was good
enough for second in the league behind Luke Vick of
the Clnton Radars who played 26 games and had 27
goals. Milvertons leading scorer was Brent Freeman
with 15 goals in 22 games.
The
Squires will also hope for a solid playoff
performance from goaltender Steve Bryce who finished
the season with 13 wins and a 3.48 GAA, with a .894
save percentage.
Through
the stats it looks as if the Squires should move on
to the next round, but this is playoff hockey and
anything can and will happen. Petrolia is going to
need to come out firing on all cylinders if they
want to motor past the 4WheelDrives.
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