With the regular season winding down, the Fergus Devils are running short on time to reach their goal of catching the Erin Shamrocks for fourth place and home-ice advantage in the first round of the playoffs.
Fergus lost a pair of games to the Stayner Siskins last week, 10-2 in Stayner Monday night and 6-5 in Fergus on Friday. They managed to post a 6-2 win over Schomberg in between their two losses, keeping them in fifth place for the time being.
The game on Monday, Jan. 4, was a make-up date from a game snowed out prior to Christmas, and the Siskins made sure the game was in the bag early. They scored three times on 17 shots in the first period and didn't look back. The 'Skins held a 6-0 lead before Sean Little got the Devils on the board, but the home team put two more goals on the board before the period closed out.
Ethan Jobb scored a shorthanded goal 7:30 into the third period, but it wasn't close to enough as Stayner tacked on two more goals to finish off the scoring.
Jesse Booker had the only assist for Fergus in the loss. Brendan Moore took the loss in goal, making 44 saves on 54 shots. Former Devils Gary Walser stopped 25 of 27 shots to pick up the win.
Thursday night in Schomberg, the Cougars got the first goal of the game before Fergus answered back with two - newcomer Jessy Kuenzig tied the game with a powerplay goal with 4:45 to play in the first, while Brock West put the Devils in front with 3:10 left the second. Schomberg tied the score at 2-2 26 seconds later, but Matt Adams scored to put the Devils in front for good with 45 seconds to play in the middle period.
Kuenzig, Ben Piluk and Booker tacked on third-period goals to salt the win away. Moore made 44 saves on 46 shots to earn the victory, while Mike Platten stopped 29 of 34 shots for Schomberg in taking the loss. Platten was relieved by Mitch Culley, who stopped four of five shots.
Mitch Gelfand (2), Branden Bauer, Nick Hanson, Little, Jobb, Zack MacPherson and Sion Jenkins were credited with assists in the win.
Last Friday in Fergus, the Siskins picked up right where they left off - Stayner scored twice in four minutes to hold a 2-0 lead after the first period. It looked like the makings of another blowout until the Devils scored two powerplay goals in nine seconds to tie the score midway through the second. But just as fortune smiled on the Devils, it turned its gaze to the Siskins, as they scored two goals in 30 seconds at the end of the second period to go back in front by a pair.
Dylan Cunningham netted a quick goal for the Devils to get the third period going, but Stayner added two more in a four-minute stretch to hold a 6-3 lead with 13 minutes to play. Cunningham scored a short-handed goal with 1:31 to play and West scored a minute later to make it 6-5 with 33 seconds left. Despite two more chances against Walser, the Devils couldn't get the tying score across the goal line.
Cunningham finished with four points (2 goals, 2 assists), while Jobb (2 assists), West (1,1), Little (1,1), Rob Turner (1 goal) and Reid Zorzi (1 assist) added the rest of the scoring.
The Devils have another three-game weekend facing them this week - Friday, Jan. 15, in Alliston (7:30 p.m. start), Saturday, Jan. 16, in Midland (7:30 p.m. start) and Sunday, Jan. 17 in Fergus against the Penetang Kings (face-off set for 7:30 p.m.).