



Game one physicality a sign of things to come?

ESSEX - Tuesday night's game kicked off the playoffs, and while many hockey enthusiasts predicted an easy Essex win, no one really could predict how physical the game was going to be.
Essex won the game 7-1 but both teams played chippy throughout the night. The game featured numerous scrums, a cross checking misconduct, a double minor spearing penalty, a couple facemask calls, as well as a fight.
Essex got the job done but moving forward, the goal must be to finish the Wild off in four games and avoid any possibilities of suspension, or worse, injuries along the way.
Patrick McManus (2), Luke Sherk, Nate Dowling, Cael McCabe, Carter Dembinski and William Claridge had the Essex goals. Connor Debot had the lone Walpole Island goal on the powerplay in the first period.
Essex travels to Walpole Island on Saturday for game two of this best-of-seven series.
73s close out season with 4-3 road win

LAKESHORE - The Essex 73's skated into Lakeshore Friday night with first place already clinched, and with nothing meaningful in the standings to play for but pride, skated out of Lakeshore with a 4-3 win.
The win evened the regular season series at three games each.
Essex seized an opportunity to rest some of its regulars on this night, whereas the Canadiens hoped to pull out a win in front of an announced crowd of over 1,000 people, many in attendance to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the franchise's first Schmalz Cup back in 1985.
Even former Leafs' tough guy, Tie Domi, who played on the '85 team, was in town for the celebration.
The Canadiens opened the scoring late in the second period on a goal by, who other than, Trevor Larue.
In what was a rather dull game after two periods, fireworks went off in the third period as Essex came to life, scoring three goals in a 4:30 span on goals by Kale Couvillon, Matthew Crawford and Marcus Levesque to take a 3-1 lead late in the game.
Larue would once again score with just over a minute left to play, his 34th goal of the season.
As the Canadiens continued to push, Patrick McManus found the net to regain the 73's two-goal lead with just :30 seconds left in regulation.
Lakeshore was resilient on this night, and managed another goal :08 seconds before the buzzer, off the stick of Tyler Hamlin, but it was all too late for the Canadiens at that point.
Boe Piroski got the start in goal for Lakeshore, allowing four goals on 24 shots. For Essex, Adrian McBride and Brogan Coquhoun split the duties in goal for the 73's, a planned strategy prior to the game. McBride stopped all seven shots he faced before giving away to Coquhoun who stopped 18-of-21 shots he faced while picking up his 8th win of the season.
Make no mistakes about it, these two teams have an excellent chance to meet once again in the league finals with Essex hoping to snap it's six-year losing streak at the hands of the Canadiens.
Lakeshore has one more game remaining on it's schedule, in Mooretown Sunday. Lakeshore will open the playoffs against the seventh place Dresden Kings while the 73's will draw the last place Walpole Island Wild. Essex opens at home Tuesday night
73's clinch first place in Stobbs Division

ESSEX - It took 41 games, but the Essex 73's have clinched first place in the Stobbs Division after an 8-1 drubbing over the Dresden Kings Tuesday night in Essex.
Essex has one game left on the regular season, Friday in Lakeshore, against the Canadiens before opening up the 2025 playoffs against the Walpole Island Wild.
Matthew Crawford and Austin Guevremont each had a pair of goals for the 73's while Gabe Piccolo, Marcus Levesque, Carter Dembinski and Nate Dowling, with his 20th on the season, had the other Essex goals.
Maclean Norris was the only Dresden marksmen to put a shot past 73's goalie, Brogan Colquhoun, who improved his record to 7-1-0-1 since joining the team. He boasts a goals against average of 0.99.
Walpole Island has not faired well this season against the 73's, losing all six games by a combined score of 54-7.

The Essex 73's and fans celebrated the players who were playing their last regular season games in their careers on home ice. Pictured with their parents, from left to right: Patrick McManus, Kale Couvillon, Karson Beuglet, Aleks Bratic and Gabe Piccolo.
PHOTO DAN De ZORZI

Gagnon officially on the ECHL Hall of Fame wall
