The Thorold Athletics donated $2,600 to the Niagara Children's Centre during their final home game this year.
Pictured from the NCC is Director of Development Marla Smith dropping the puck between Thorold captain JJ Martin and Whitby Dunlop captain Brett McConnachie.
Pictured in back row are Athletics manager Rocky Venditti, Athletics owner Dave Marrone, and Cathy & John Henderson of Henderson's Pharmacy who recently donated $10,000 to the Centre as well.

By Aex Rotundo

It was a tough opening weekend of the playoffs for the Thorold Athletics.  The team, who surged through the second half of the regular season, failed to find early success in the playoffs, dropping both of their games over the weekend to the Whitby Dunlops. Despite strong play in both games, the Athletics now find themselves down 2-0 in the best-of-seven series.

Game one of the series took place in Whitby, where the Athletics found themselves down 2-0 after a pair of goals by Whitby’s Jason Dale by the end of the first period.  Thorold would come out with more life in the second period, however, with Steven Dol cutting Whitby’s lead in half less than five minutes into the frame.  Later on in the period, Dale would complete his hat trick, but a laser off the stick of Zac McQuade with four minutes left in the period would send Thorold to the room down by a single goal.

The third period began with a bang for the Athletics, when Tyler Turcotte tied the game up less than two minutes in, however Thorold failed to keep the pressure on, giving up the eventual game-winning goal just over a minute later.  Whitby would later add a power play marker to seal the deal, and end goaltender Colin Dunne’s night early.  Dunne made 23 saves on 28 shots.  Jon D’Ilario, who came on in relief of Dunne, stopped all six shots he faced, but the Athletics would fall to the Dunlops by a 5-3 score. 

Thorold looked to rebound on Sunday evening at home, with Jon D’Ilario drawing the start in goal over Colin Dunne.  However, they fizzled early allowing Whitby to get the game’s first goal just four minutes into the first period.  The score would remain the same after the first twenty minutes.  The second period brought lots of scoring chances at both ends of the ice, but with no successes until Whitby made it 2-0 with just over five minutes remaining in the frame.  The Dunlops would add a short-handed goal with 35 seconds left to send the Athletics into the dressing room for the second intermission down 3-0.

The urgency could be sensed from the Athletics bench to start the third period, although Whitby would make it 4-0 five minutes into the final frame.  With just over nine minutes remaining in regulation time, the Athletics would finally solve goaltender Jason Guy with a goal by Derek Nichols, however, that was all the offense that Thorold could muster up, giving up an empty-netter with seconds to go in the game.  After thanking the 450 fans in attendance by raising their sticks, the Thorold Athletics exited the ice down 2-0 in the series.

The power play will be a major point of interest for head coach Kevin Bolibuck at practice, as the team went 0-for-12 with the man advantage and allowed a short-handed goal.  The team’s penalty kill was 6-for-7 over the weekend.  The team was outscored 10-4 over the two game span, with Whtiby taking the shot advantage 34-33 and 45-27 in the first and second games respectfully.  Expect Jason Guy to start again in Game Three, while Bolibruck has yet to commit to a starting netminder.

Thorold will look to rebound in Game Three at home, puck drop at 7:37pm.  Tickets are $10 with children 12 and under free.