(Georgetown, ON) – The Buffalo Junior Sabres have held first place in the Ontario Junior Hockey West Division for most of the season but are now in an increasingly heated race to hold that spot, as the Georgetown Raiders dealt the blue and gold a 4-2 loss Saturday night in Georgetown, pulling to within two points of Buffalo in the standings with a game in hand.
Drake Hart puts the hosts ahead very early in the first period, though Buffalo’s Pat Egan (file photo courtesy OJHL Images) evened the score just under eight minutes into the second period. The Raiders jumped out to a two goal lead later in the period with goals by Tyler MacPherson and Nick Perruccio.
Nick Scamurra brought the Jr. Sabres back within one with his third period power play goal, but the Raiders netted an insurance tally with just under eight minutes remaining. Ill-timed penalties, including a ten-minute misconduct that put leading scorer Tyler Gjurich out of the game late in the third, kept Buffalo from mounting any serious challenges to the hosts’ lead.
Buffalo was also bitten again by the injury bug, with Ryan Schmelzer and Derek Patterson both suffering what appeared to be shoulder problems.
The Jr. Sabres return home Monday night to host the Burlington Cougars at 7:30pm in the Northtown Center at Amherst.
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