The McLean & Dickey Orillia Terriers are back in first place.
Sparked by a hat trick from Josh Brown, the Terriers earned a hard-fought 7-4 victory in a spirited contest with host Schomberg at the Trisan Centre Thursday night.
With the win, the upstart Terriers improved to 8-1 to move one point ahead of Schomberg atop the North Carruthers Division standings in the Provincial Junior Hockey League.
Rookie Owen Vandusen opened the scoring just three minutes into the contest Thursday night, but less than four minutes later the Cougars knotted the score.
In the middle stanza, Austin Holenski and Sam Pink scored to extend the Terriers’ lead to 3-1. After a Schomberg goal, Brown tallied his first of the game to restore the two-goal lead, but Schomberg scored with just four seconds left in the period as Orillia nursed a narrow 4-3 advantage heading into the final 20 minutes.
In the third, an early goal from Noah Mountain gave the visitors some breathing space. But Schomberg kept coming and scored to, again, narrow the gap to a single goal.
Brown scored an unassisted goal with less than nine minutes remaining and then secured the victory - and his hat trick - with an empty net goal.
Wade Monague was outstanding between the pipes to pick up the win in a game in which Schomberg out-shot Orillia 43-31. With the victory, he improved to 4-1 on the season.
The Terriers return to home ice Saturday night when they take on the Midland Flyers (2-6). Puck drop is at 8 p.m. at Rotary Place. Proof of vaccination is required to enter the Orillia arena.
TERRIER TALES: Orillia scored one power-play goal on three opportunities with the extra man, while Schomberg was successful on one of its four power-play chances. With his three-goal performance, Brown has scored nine goals in nine games this season and leads the team with 14 points. Rookie defenceman Isaiah Philips leads the blueliners with nine points in his nine games.