Spartans strike first in high school hockey playoffs

STEPHENVILLE - The Stephenville High Spartans began their defence of the West Coast High School Hockey League title in high-flying fashion on Tuesday night.

The Spartans, who finished the regular season in second place, struck three times in the opening period en route to a 5-3 decision over the third-seeded Corner Brook Regional High Titans in Game 1 of the best-of-three semi-final series at the Stephenville Dome.

Jon Organ (2), Charlie Alexander, Tony Caines and Josh White lit the lamp for the home team.

Andrew Smith, Adam Guy and Mark McWhirter responded for the Titans in the losing effort.

Blaine Hann earned the goaltending win, while Nathan Hamlyn took the loss.

"We jumped out early and maybe caught them on their heels a bit," said Spartans' coach Tony Alexander. "(Getting an early lead) is something we talked about over the last little while and it was certainly something we liked to see."

Organ kicked off the scoring before the game was six minutes old, from Josh Froude and Caines, before picking up his second of the night, with just over four minutes remaining in the first, again from Froude and Caines to make it a 2-0 game.

Charlie Alexander gave his squad the 3-0 lead, from Josh Boyd and White, before the first intermission.

Caines notched the only goal of the second period, about mid-way through, with Organ and Froude drawing the assists.

The Titans managed to give the Spartans a scare in the final stanza, as Andrew Smith scored with nine minutes remaining, from Guy and Josh Kavli, to pull his team to within three. Guy then buried one, from Ryan Patey and Andrew Smith, with a little over five minutes to go, before McWhirter struck with a minute left on the clock, from Guy and Ryan Meade, to seemingly make a game of it.

White put an end to that, however, scoring an empty-netter from Boyd and Ryan Snow in the dying seconds to secure the 5-3 win and the 1-0 series lead.

"It's hard at this age-level to stay focused for three full periods, but I don't think there was really a point in the game where we were too concerned we were going to let it slip away," said Alexander. "Our confidence level is pretty good, but we know we have to face a tough team back in Corner Brook on Monday night."

Game 2 is slated for 6:30 p.m. Monday night at the Pepsi Centre.

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