The Lockport Express lost ground to the Roc City Royals in the playoff race, but still remain in the thick of the hunt. Lockport dropped a 5-4 decision to Roc City on Friday, and then the Royals split a pair of games against Skylands. Lockport trails Roc City by 9 points for the final playoff spot, but have four games in hand on the Royals.
The Express will have a trio of game this weekend at the Cornerstone Ice Arena, including one Friday evening against the Roc City Royals. Game time will be at 8:00pm. The other two games of the weekend will be against the Skylands Kings. Saturday’s puck drop is scheduled for 8:00pm, and Sunday is set to get underway at 2:00pm. The Royals will cap off the weekend with Saturday and Sunday games against the league-leading Binghamton Junior Senators.
The games are winding down for those teams on the outside looking in. Roc City, currently in fourth place, and the last playoff spot, has five games left to play. Skylands has six. Working in Lockport’s favor is the fact that they have nine games remaining on their schedule. It gives them a chance to catch the Royals.
Northeast Division Standings (as of 2/15/2017)
Team
|
GP
|
W
|
L
|
OTL
|
SOL
|
Pts
|
Binghamton Junior Senators
|
42
|
40
|
1
|
0
|
1
|
81
|
Jersey Shore Wildcats
|
44
|
25
|
18
|
1
|
0
|
51
|
Syracuse Stampede
|
39
|
17
|
18
|
3
|
1
|
38
|
Roc City Royals
|
42
|
15
|
24
|
2
|
1
|
33
|
Lockport Express
|
38
|
12
|
26
|
0
|
0
|
24
|
Skylands Kings
|
41
|
10
|
29
|
2
|
0
|
22
|
Playoff Race
Team
|
Pts
|
+/- 3rd
|
+/- 4th
|
Games Left
|
Syracuse Stampede
|
38
|
0
|
+5
|
8
|
Roc City Royals
|
33
|
-5
|
0
|
5
|
Lockport Express
|
24
|
-14
|
-9
|
9
|
Skylands Kings
|
22
|
NA
|
-11
|
6
|
Scoring Leaders:
Lockport Express:
Andrew Logar 18G, 38A, 56pts
Blake Bennett 27G, 14A, 41pts
Luca Mazzo 12G, 21A, 33pts
Roc City Royals:
Brandon Corey 54G, 32A, 86pts
Peter Izzo 24G, 30A, 54pts
Henrik Toiviainen 21G, 17A, 38pts
Skylands Kings:
Steven Ford 12G, 30A, 42pts
Eric Vanderhoff 21G, 20A, 41pts
Craig Garrigan 23G, 16A, 39pts
Niagara’s Watercooler, especially Craig Bacon, would like to extend a heartfelt apology to defenseman, Nick Grupp. We inadvertently omitted his naming to the Black Select team during the Top Prospects Tournament, held February 27th and 28th in Plimpton, Michigan.
All home games can be heard LIVE on Niagara’s Watercooler.
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