By Darryl G. Smart

It really was a matter of when, not if the Caledonia Corvairs advanced to the Greater Onterio Junior Hockey League Golden Horseshoe semifinal.

On Monday, the top-seeded Corvairs skated away with an 8-2 win over the Buffalo Regals. Combined with Saturday’s 2-1 win on home ice, the Corvairs sweep the best-of-seven GOJHL GHC quarter-final 4-0.

On Monday, Dany Drouin led the charge, scoring two of his three goals on the night in the first period. Michael Barker and Matthew Bridgewater also added goals in the first frame that saw the Corvairs out shoot the Regals 20-9.

Ryan Messing scored the lone Regals response.

The Corvairs continued to pour it on in the second period, with Bridgewater, Joel Mazzilli and Drouin adding to the score.

Todd Smith scored for the Regals.

Noah Caperchione added one more goal in the third period.

Aiden Hughes made 24 saves on the night for the win, while Kyle Koroleski had 29.

On Saturday, it was a much different game, with the Corvairs squeaking out a 2-1 win despite outshooting the regals 71-38.

Dylan D’Agostino scored in the first period, with Ryan Littlejohn netting the game-winner 15 seconds into the second period.

Owen Green was the lone Regals player to beat Evan Reinhart, who had to be spectacular at time to preserve the win in only his second start of the season.

Reinhart was signed at the free-agent deadline by the Corvairs as an insurance policy with plenty of experience between the pipes. Reinhart was the backup to Max Wright when the Listowel Cyclones beat the Corvairs in the 2018 Sutherland Cup. He has also played for the Brantford 99ers (GOJHL) and Kitchener Dutchmen.

The Corvairs now wait for the other GHC quarter-finals to end to see who their opponent will be. The second-seeded Niagara Falls Jr Canucks lead the seventh-seeded Fort Erie Jr. Meteors 2-0, as does the third-seed St. Catharines Falcons over the sixth-seeded Pelham Panthers. The fourth-seeded Hamilton Kilty B’s Junior Hockey Club lead the fifth-seeded Thorold Blackhawks 3-0.