LUCAN – The Lucan Ilderton Jets split the first two games of their divisional playoff series against the Petrolia Squires on the weekend, losing 4-3 Friday night but bouncing back with a 7-5 Saturday night win.
The Jets and Squires are battling for the WOAA Senior Men’s Hockey League South Division title and a spot in the league championship.
Friday’s game in Petrolia saw Jets forward Joey Pikul open the scoring on a shorthanded goal 3:17 into the first period.
Petrolia’s Aaron Brand answered late in the frame, and the score was 1-1 heading into the break.
The Squires scored two goals early in the second period, but Jets players Mike Miller and Deryk Whitehead also found the net, and the game was tied 2-2 after 40 minutes.
Brand scored the winning goal roughly eight minutes into the third period off a Lucan Ilderton turnover.
Saturday night’s game was held in Lucan and was close in the early going.
The score was 2-2 after the first period with Jets goals from Darrin Macdonald and Andrew Carey.
Lucan Ilderton pulled ahead to stay in the second period, with Carey and Rob Silver scoring twice and Macdonald scoring once.
The Jets led 7-4 heading into the second intermission, allowing one goal in the third period but hanging on for the victory.
“We got them on the big ice (in Lucan), and we totally exposed their weakness, which I thought was their lack of speed,” said Jets general manager Rob Andrews.
“That was the one we were optimistic about. We figured if we got them on the big ice surface, we could maybe take advantage of that, and we did.”
Andrews tipped his hat to the Jets players, who battled in games on back-to-back nights with a short bench – only 14 skaters dressed for the game, he said.
“Hopefully we’ll have a full lineup back on Friday night,” Andrews added. “We still have to win a game in their arena, and that’s going to be tough.
“They play their arena very well, they’ve got the crowd on their side there, they’ve got everything going there.”
Andrews said to be successful the Jets have to try to get an early lead in Game 3 in Petrolia and take the crowd out of the game.
“Hopefully that will work to our advantage,” he said. “But in saying that, they’re a big, physical team and it’s going to be tough.”
Both teams will be missing players for Game 3 due to an altercation on the weekend. Jets defenceman Drew Belt will be out, as will two Petrolia players, Andrews said.
“They have a full complement of players on their roster, so they’ll have no (trouble) inserting anybody,” Andrews added.
“We’re a little different, dealing with some injury problems and things like that. But in saying that, our guys really stepped up, and we’re pretty proud of the way they played on the weekend. We got a split, and that’s a good start.”
Andrews said he sees confidence growing among his players each game and gets the sense they’re starting to believe more in themselves.
“They’re starting to realize that hey, this may be the only opportunity you get to get this far, or to advance to the league finals,” Andrews added. “I really noticed that in the guys  on the weekend – being that we were shorthanded and played as well as they did.
“That’s done a lot for the confidence of the guys.”
Game 3 is scheduled for this coming Friday in Petrolia, with Game 4 Saturday night at 7:30 p.m. at the Lucan Community Memorial Centre.