The Toronto Golden Jets senior men made it to another gold medal game at the National Championships.
The journey at the National Championships began with a quarter-final match up against CAMO 2 (Montreal) which gained the 8th seed due to the withdrawal of the #4 seed from the Western Conference.
Reflecting a layoff of 6 weeks between games, both teams took a quarter to get back into game form trading single goals. The Jets then jumped out to a two goal half-time lead thanks to a 4-2 second period.
The Jets blew the game open with a strong 5-0 third quarter to lead 10-3 heading into the 4th quarter. Another strong period from the Jets offence led to a 6-2 quarter and a 16-5 win.
Diego Gonzalez and Aiden Masters each had hat tricks to pace the Jets attack. Euan Schofield, Sukhmun Hare and Patrick Conn popped in a pair of goals apiece while single tallies came from the hands of Bruno Marunica, Timmy Pourkazemi, Tony Giannatsis and Rudy Despaigne.
With the victory, the Jets moved on to the semi-finals and a clash with CAMO 1. It was a closely fought contest through the first two quarters with the Jets taking the opening quarter 2-1 and the teams tieing 2-2 in the second leaving the Jets with a slim 4-3 advantage at halftime.
A 3-0 third quarter proved to be the difference as the Jets bought their place in the national final with a 10-5 win. Schofield, Marunica and Richard Laurie each scored twice. Gonzalez, Despaigne, Hare and goalie Emirhan Ozdemir (with a pool length shot into the empty net after CAMO 1 had pulled its goalie for an extra attacker) rounded out the scoring.
In the final, one quarter (the second) against the Ottawa Titans would sink the Jets’ hopes of another national title. The teams tied the other three quarters but the Titans roared to a 6-2 second quarter en route to a 11-7 victory.
Hare and Conn notched two goals each while Gonzalez, Marunica and Schofield chipped in with singles.
The Jets men only lost one game all year, going undefeated throughout the regular season and first two rounds of the Nationals.
