William Stadder and Michael Vieira scored twice as the Essex 73s beat the Amherstburg Integrity Admirals 5-2 Sunday night at the Libro Centre.
The 73s sweep their rivals out of the Stobbs Division playoff semifinals and will play either the Lakeshore Canadiens or Dresden Kings in the division finals.
The Admirals got off to a quick start with back to back goals in the first period. Travis Campbell got Amherstburg on the board first at 6:32, then Michael Hatch doubled the lead at the 15-minute mark. The 73s cut the lead in half before the first intermission with a power-play score by Vieira.
The score was knotted at 2-2 with Stadder's first goal, on the power play.
The 73s put the game and the series away in the third period with three straight goals. Tyler Beneteau scored the game-winner at 7:24, followed later by the second goals from Stadder and Vieira.
Connor Meyerink stopped 29 shots in goal for Essex. Ben Larder completes his season for Amherstburg with 23 saves.
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Eric Larue scored twice as the Lakeshore Canadiens beat the Dresden Kings 4-2 at Ken Houston Memorial Arena.
The Canadiens take a 3-1 lead in their best-of-seven junior-C playoff series and can close it out at home on Tuesday night.
The Kings scored a pair in the opening stanza. Nolan Vandenboorn scored the first one at 1:16, then Dawson Winchester doubled the Dresden lead near the end of the period.
Lakeshore came back in the middle period with three unanswered goals, the first two scored by Larue, both on the power play. Jarrett Tazzman provided the go-ahead goal for the Canadiens, who took a 3-2 second-intermission lead.
Parker Jacques added an empty-net goal with 44 seconds left in regulation to seal the win for Lakeshore.
Erik Morneau faced only 16 shots in goal for the Canadiens and stopped 14 of them. Brett Brochu had 24 saves in net for Dresden.
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A big second period helped the Sarnia Legionnaires take a 5-3 win over the St. Thomas Stars at the Joe Thornton Centre.
It was the regular-season finale for both teams. Sarnia finishes in fourth place with 53 points while St. Thomas is in seventh with 41.
The first period was perfect, with no goals scored and no penalties. The Stars outshot the Legionnaires in that frame 13-9.
St. Thomas finally broke the scoreless tie with a Nicolas Grandy goal at 13:28 of the second period, but after that, Sarnia took over with four goals scored in over three minutes' time. Logan Gardner, Isaac McLean, Ryan Barwitzki and Carson Peer were the scorers in order.
Jack Wieringa scored for the Stars on the power play at 2:10 of the third period, but Cameron Wade got that goal back for the Legionnaires. Brady Elder managed another score for St. Thomas but they were unable to add additional offence.
Nolan DeKoning had 29 saves out of 32 tries in goal for Sarnia. Jesse Hodgson had 24 saves for St. Thomas.
Sarnia will host the LaSalle Vipers in the Western Conference quarterfinals, while St. Thomas travels to London to face the Nationals.
