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Oilers, Renegades win division titles

It was evident early on, even before the puck was dropped, the Yukon Appliance Renegades had a little extra oomph going into Tuesday's decisive Game 5 in the Division A final of the Whitehorse Rec Hockey League at Takhini Arena.
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It was evident early on, even before the puck was dropped, the Yukon Appliance Renegades had a little extra oomph going into Tuesday’s decisive Game 5 in the Division A final of the Whitehorse Rec Hockey League at Takhini Arena.

The early clue came in the form of a shattered pane of plexiglass, smashed on a warm-up shot from Matt Seigmiller, delaying the start of the game by 20 minutes.

“The guy’s got a rocket for a shot,” said Renegades captain Nester Baird. “Matt always tells us how he feels when he wakes up in the morning, and he said this morning his head sprung up from the pillow and had a good feeling waking up.”

Seigmiller’s premonition came to fruition in his team’s 5-4 win over Cinderwood/Air North, giving the Renegades the Division A title.

Trading one-goal leads throughout the game, the Renegades took the win, scoring two goals in the last 1:04 of regulation time. Assisted by Spencer Tomlin and Seigmiller, Aaron Pettitt tied the game 5-5 before Tomlin scored with 25 seconds left with a shot off the faceoff, assisted by Rob Wells, who also scored twice in the game.

“As far as the goal scoring, we’ve been depending on three guys, Aaron Pettitt, Spencer Tomlin and Rob Wells, pretty much the whole playoffs,” said Baird. “Those guys have been lighting it up, especially this series.”

A real down-but-not-out team, the Renegades trailed at some point in four of the five games in the series, making a huge comeback from 6-1 for their first win in Game 2.

“The series changed after that game,” said Baird. “We started to roll from there.”

Leading the way for Cinderwood was Jay Glass with a hat trick and Kirk Gale with a goal. Jaxon Glass and Nigel Cripps each had two assists.

Also scoring for the Renegades was Adam Lightfoot.

Radford gives slick

performance in Oilers win

When Oilers’ Anthony Radford, or “Tony Rad” as he is known to his teammates, scored his team’s game-winning goal in Game 3 (of three) of the Division B finals, his were the only orange sleeves on the ice not raised in jubilation.

However, Radford’s nonchalant demeanor seems to reflect in his playing, said Environlube Oilers goalie Floyd McCormick.

“His style of play reminds me of (former Montreal Canadien) Frank Miholovich,” said McCormick. “Frank would be out there looking as if he’s not putting much effort in it, but when the game’s over he has a couple of goals, and Tony can be like that too.

“You can’t always tell who’s going to be the most effective player.”

The Oilers won Division B with a close 3-2 win over the Y.E.S. Jets on Tuesday.

A long time coming, the team’s win gives the Oilers their first-ever division title since the team was formed in 1994, with a handful of long-time veterans on board.

“I don’t think there’s anyone on the team from when I started (in 1995), but guys who started in ‘96, ‘97, like Peter Mostyn, Allan Hansen and Leroy Wolfe,” said McCormick.

“It’s only over the last couple years that we’ve won more games than we’ve lost in the regular season. For years and years we’d get beat by like 10 goals, but the same core of guys kept coming out.”

Radford not only scored the game winner, but tied the game 2-2 early in the second (of two) period. Both his goals were assisted by Mostyn with Matt Burdenie grabbing an assist on the game winner. Justin Quigley scored the Oilers’ first goal, assisted by Evan Wise and Don Fedus.

Keeping the Jets airborne were Geoff Quinsey and Darryl Froese, each with a goal.

Contact Tom Patrick at

tomp@yukon-news.com