Waterloo Siskins hosted the Cambridge Redhawks Thursday night at the Waterloo Memorial Recreation Complex for game #5 of their best of seven series up 3 games to 1. Waterloo knew Cambridge would be putting forth a best effort with their back against the wall.
Waterloo got off to a strong start holding a 10 shot to 1 shot margin at one point in the first period. The relentless offensive attack finally paid off at the 10:44 mark of the first frame when Siskins JOSEPH SERPA converted a perfect pass from SAM SPAEDT leaving the Siskins rookie with a gaping cage creating a 1-0 Waterloo lead (See Photo #1 of Mar 7, 2019 Album). BRETT SCHAEFER made it 2-0 Waterloo 2 minutes later when he drilled a drop pass from MATT PRUCHA off the post to the stick side of the Red Hawk goalie (See Photo #2 of Mar 7, 2019 Album).
Cambridge got on the board at 4:42 of the second period when series star DEVYN ORPANA scored on a power play with Waterloo serving a 5 minute major penalty. The Siskins regained their two goal lead three and a half minutes later when forward JEFF SCHRATTNER drove the Cambridge net and converted a goal mouth pass from ALEC TILEY. Cambridge narrowed the lead to one goal again on the power play with two Siskins players in the sin bin. BRETT SCHAEFER scored what ended up to be the game winning goal in the dying seconds of the period when he rushed end to end weaving through defenders and jamming the puck through the legs of the Cambridge goalie (See Photo #3 of Mar 7, 2019 Album).
Most of the third frame was played between the blue lines as Waterloo trapped the neutral zone frustrating the Redhawks who were trying to get back in the game. JEFF SCHRATTNER scored his second goal of the game converting a nice pass from SAM CHERRY putting the game pretty much out of reach with 2 minutes and 39 seconds left in the game. PHIL CARON scored a third goal for Cambridge with their goalie pulled in desperation but it was too little too late. Siskins WINSTON CESTNICK scored an empty net goal making the final score Waterloo 6 and Cambridge 3 leaving Waterloo the victor in 5 games.
MATT ONUSKA was a big story for the Waterloo Siskins in the series (See Photo #4 of Mar 7, 2019 Album). Matt was called on to play every game with Siskins net minder MACHUS TURNER recovering from an injury. Waterloo is blessed with two legitimate number 1 goalies this season. Matt was solid in the series and stopped 29 of 32 shots for the Siskins 6-3 victory on Thursday.
Waterloo will be heading into Stratford this coming Friday (March 15th) to take on the Warriors in what will undoubtedly be an exciting series for fans. Waterloo returns to the friendly WATERLOO MEMORIAL RECREATION CENTRE SUNDAY MARCH 17TH FOR GAME 2 with the game starting at 1:30PM
