Wounded Red Wings too much for Raiders

There will be no springtime Jr. A hockey in Georgetown in 2006 after the host Raiders were eliminated from the post-season somewhat shockingly by the Hamilton Red Wings on Saturday night in front of close to 1,000 spectators at the Mold-Masters SportsPlex. Even though second-place Hamilton finished eight points ahead of the Raiders in the regular season standings and won five of six meetings between the two, it appeared the Raiders were poised to take the second-round playoff series as one Red Wing after another went down with injury. The Raiders outshot and carried the play for much of the final two contests in the OHA Provincial Jr. A Hockey League West Conference semi-final, yet Hamilton emerged with a pair of 2-1 victories. The Red Wings finished off Georgetown on Saturday with just 14 healthy skaters, frustrating the seemingly snake-bitten Raider marksmen. Veteran Travis Kauffeldt, among some late-season Georgetown pickups expected to spark a sputtering offence, ended up with more fighting majors (two) than goals (one) in 12 post-season starts. "We had the team and the coaching staff and everything but we didn't get the right bounces when we needed it, especially in the two long overtime games," said third-year Raider defenceman Frank DeAngelis, who is being courted by U.S. colleges such as Canisius and Merrimack. "Even after (Saturday's) game was over, we still couldn't believe we'd lost. It started to sink in (Monday) after we cleaned out our lockers for the last time, and it still hurts." Thursday's pivotal fifth game at Mountain Arena in Hamilton went into double overtime and although the Raiders had many more opportunities to score than the home side, a terrible Georgetown line change led to a breakaway that Mike Galbraith finished coolly with a deke and shot over Ryan Gibb. "Sometimes a team can play better with more ice time when they're able to get a lead and just defend," said Raiders' coach Jay Anderson. "We outscored Hamilton in the series and dominated the last two games from the second period on. Our Achilles' heel was our inability to score, and that a team built on strength and brawn like us couldn't match their speed. But they more than know that they were in a series." In Saturday's well-played affair, the visiting Wings received more stellar netminding from Cameron Talbot and used two screen-shot goals past Gibb to build a 2-0 lead after 40 minutes. Wade Finegan's rebound goal early in the third period offered some hope but the equalizer never came. Georgetown's Jon Southgate sent Thursday's tilt into extra time with a last-minute third period marker after the Raiders had trailed since the early stages of the opening frame. As for next season, Georgetown's defence will have to be entirely rebuilt with the likes of all-stars DeAngelis, Erik Lundmark, Andrew Dennis, Ryan Lee and Matt Sitko moving on, as is 20-year-old Gibb. Hamilton now waits to play the winner of the other West Conference semi-final between the first-place Milton IceHawks and the Oakville Blades. Down 2-0 in the series, the Blades have stormed back to tie it 3-3, with game 7 tonight in Milton. RAIDER RAP: Georgetown native Ryan Ellis has been named State University of New York Athletic Conference rookie of the year after a fantastic freshman season with the Oswego State Lakers. The 21-year-old Ellis was the second-leading scorer in NCAA Division III hockey with 21 goals and 24 assists. But, for the second year in a row, the first-place Lakers were upset by Plattsburgh State in the recent SUNYAC playoff semi-final in two straight games...Also on the Oswego State team are former Raiders T.J. Manastersky and goalie Chris Hyk. Georgetown's Ryan Busby of Plattsburgh State was named as an honourable mention for SUNYAC all-star consideration. Busby, 22, led the Cardinals in scoring with 13 goals and 16 assists in 27 games and he had three assists over two games in the wins over Oswego. Plattsburgh State lost to Geneseo in the SUNYAC finals this past weekend.