Ontario teams were victorious in overtime on the opening day of the 2022 Minto Cup in Brampton, Ontario. The Toronto Beaches defeated the Victoria Shamrocks 9-7, and the Whitby Warriors defeated the Edmonton Miners 11-9.
Each team plays each other once. After the round robin, the fourth place team is eliminated, the first place team gets a bye to the final, and seeds two and three play each other in a semi final on Thursday.
The goaltenders stole the show in game one. Will Johnston of the Beaches made 41 saves, while Adam Bland of the Shamrocks made 54. Johnston kept the Beaches in it late in the game with Toronto holding a 7-6 lead throughout the third period until Noah Manning’s goal with 1:17 left tied it. With an extra attacker, Manning got in close and sort of redirected a shot into the net.
A pair of outside shots spelled doom for Victoria; Willem Firth and Greg Palmer each scored their second goals of the game to lift Toronto to the victory. Johnston saved all seven shots he faced in OT.
Firth also added four assists to lead Toronto. Matt Collison scored three times and assisted once. Cam Acchione and Josh Fairey also scored. The ball was in and out of Jacob Hickey’s stick most of the afternoon; he had five assists.
Casey Wilson had four goals for the Shamrocks; his best of the night was a near buzzer-beater at the end of the second on a close up bounce shot. Captain Patrick Dodds scored once and assisted twice.
On Tuesday, Toronto plays Edmonton at 5 p.m., while Victoria takes on Whitby at 8 p.m. Find the full schedule at https://www.themintocup.com/schedule.
