Music: {allcanada} OHL: MAJORS BEAT STING TO CLINCH PLAYOFF BERTH

Sunday, January 30, 2011

{allcanada} OHL: MAJORS BEAT STING TO CLINCH PLAYOFF BERTH

It's official: the Mississauga St. Michael's Majors are the first team in the Ontario Hockey League to clinch a playoff spot.

Rob Flick and Mika Partanen scored twice for the Majors in a lopsided 7-1 win over the Sarnia Sting on Sunday afternoon.

With the win, the Majors are officially out of reach of the Barrie Colts and Belleville Bulls, guaranteeing Mississauga one of the eight post-season berths in the OHL's Eastern Conference.

The Majors are already assured a spot at this season's Memorial Cup, as Mississauga will be hosting the tournament.

The Majors set franchise records for total shots and shots in a period with marks of 59 and 36 (in the first) respectively. The Sting replied with 29 total shots and five in the opening 20 minutes.

It was the fourth-straight win for Mississauga and third in as many nights.

Elsewhere in the OHL it was: London 4 Brampton 2; Owen Sound 4 Erie 2; Kitchener 5 Windsor 4 and Guelph 6 Sault Ste. Marie 3.

At Mississauga, Ont., Casey Cizikas and Derek Schoenmakers each had a goal and an assist for the Majors (37-8-2), while Alex Cord also scored.

Kale Kerbashian scored for Sarnia (18-23-6) to stretch his point streak to 12 games. He has five goals and 12 assists over that span.

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Knights 4 Battalion 2

At Brampton, Ont., Dane Fox led the way with two goals and an assist as London skated past the Battalion.

Cody Donnay and Chris Tierney had the other goals for London (25-18-3). Tyler Ferry chipped in with three assists.

Zach Bell and Barclay Goodrow responded for Brampton (20-21-6).

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Attack 4 Otters 2

At Owen Sound, Ont., Andrew Shaw had a pair of goals as the Attack disposed of Erie.

Roman Berdnikov and Liam Heelis also scored for Owen Sound (32-15-2), which has won four games in a row.

Shawn Szydlowski and Phil Varone replied for the Otters (25-23-2).

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Rangers 5 Spitfires 4

At Windsor, Ont., Andrew Crescenzi scored the game-winning goal as Kitchener stormed back to defeat the Spitfires.

Matt Tipoff and Tyler Randell scored power-play goals for the Rangers (27-14-4). Tipoff scored his second goal of the game early in the third period and Michael Catenacci's 14th goal of the season set the stage for Crescenzi's game winner with just under four minutes left in the game.

Tom Kuhnhackl, Zack MacQueen and Jeff Brown gave Windsor (27-15-4) a 3-0 lead after 20 minutes. Craig Duininck added to the Spitfires' lead with a short-handed effort midway through the second.

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Storm 6 Greyhounds 3

At Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., Peter Holland and Michael Latta both scored twice as Guelph raced past the Greyhounds.

Matt Finn and Cody McNaughton also scored for the Storm (23-20-5).

Ryan Sproul had a goal and set up one other for Sault Ste. Marie (16-25-6), while Michael Kantor and David Quesnele found the back of the net.