A much anticipated tilt between Essex and Lakeshore Tuesday night didn't disappoint. It was a hard fought game that saw the hometown 73's prevail 3-1 snapping their rivals' 23-game win streak.
"Both teams I thought played real well, worked hard and you know we got a couple more breaks than they did, I mean that's a good team there," said Essex head coach Tony Piroski. "It could have gone either way you know what I mean. We'll take it for sure but ya, it was a good game.
Gabe Barrette got Essex on the board at 6:48 of the first period with his 8th goal of the season. Liam Hall tapped home a Kale Couvillon rebound for his 21st giving the 73's a 2-0 lead after the opening period.
Spencer Higginbottom cut the deficit in half for the Canadiens with his 18th of the season at 5:55 of the second.
Cael McCabe would notch his first with the 73's 58 seconds into the third period to close out the scoring. Lakeshore did fight back outshooting Essex 10-5 in the third but Cavan McCabe shut the door finishing with 30 saves for his 10th win of the season.
The victory vaulted the 73's into first overall in the PJHL with 55 points. Lakeshore trails by one with a game in hand. "I thought it was a goood game," said Canadiens head coach Anthony Iaquinta. "Obviously there's a few things we would like to clean up on our end but at the end of the day, the compete was there and for us that's all we ask for. Credit to them (Essex), they did what they had to do to win."
A sidebar to the game was Iaquita, a former 73's defenceman, coaching for the first time against Piroski who was his coach over a decade ago. "To be honest, it's not something I thought about much," Iaquinta said. "Obviously he's been a great mentor for me and I'm thankful for everything he's done for me. I'm just happy to see him back behind the bench again."
Before returning to the Essex bench last month Piroski kept in contact with Iaquita and assistant coach Mike Dobric who also played for him. Piroski was at Iaquita's wedding a few months ago and was told to save the date for Dobric's upcoming wedding. "I hope now that I'm coaching that I still get invited but we'll see," Piroski said with a laugh. "They're good guys. They're friends of mine. Naturally they know I want to beat them and I'm sure they want to beat me. I'm very proud of those guys. They do a real good job both on the ice with the kids and off the ice also."
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