He may have scored twice in Game 6, but there’s little doubt that the overtime goal Brett Arrowsmith netted on Tuesday night was his biggest of the season — and most likely his junior career.
The 19-year-old Gananoque Islanders veteran fired a high shot from the slot to beat Westport Rideaus goaltender Richard Barr 1:15 into the sudden-death period and give the Islanders a 7-6 victory in Game 7 of their Eastern Ontario Junior Hockey League playoff series.
It was Arrowsmith’s third goal of the playoffs after a seven-goal regular season. He had five goals last season and none in four playoff games.
The 4-3 series victory lifted the Islanders into the Rideau Division final against the pennant-winning Athens Aeros, who downed the Brockville Tikis 4-0 also Tuesday night in their Game 7 semifinal series closer.
It didn’t look all that promising for the Islanders in the latter stages of Game 7. Third-period goals by Danny Hincks and Cameron McNutt gave the home team a 6-5 lead, but regular-season MVP Wyatt Cota scooted up the left wing and beat Barr on the short side to knot the game with only 1:37 left in the third.
It was Cota’s second goal of the series. McNutt, meanwhile, scored his sixth and finished the series with 13 points.
The Islanders entered the third period ahead 5-4 as Chris Smith and Bryar Hill scored the lone goals of the second period. Hill’s came on a power play with just 34 second left in the frame. Smith’s, at 5:02, was his series-leading eighth and team-leading 13th point.
Gananoque got off to a solid start in the game, thanks to a pair of goals by Jon Harris, who scored three times in the opening period. He scored 26 seconds after the opening faceoff and then added another goal before the period was five minutes old.
Westport roared back with three straight goals — Jarrett Williams at 6:55, Hincks at 15:04 and Peter McGahey at 15:58 — to grab the lead before Harris, with 3:10 left in the period, once again tied it. Max Ming’s power-play goal with 1:17 left in the first reinstated Westport’s one-goal lead.
