(July 6, 2012)… The Six Nations Arrows routed the St. Catharines Athletics 13-3 in Game 3 Thursday night to sweep the best-of-five series. Next up for the top-seeded Arrows are the Peterborough Lakers in the Ontario Semifinals. (Photos by Ward Laforme Jr.)

“It feels good,” said Six Nations Head Coach Marshall Abrams. “It’s two weeks for the boys to rest up and prepare for a very tough Peterborough team.”

The game was never in doubt as Johnny Powless opened the game with a shorthanded goal at 3:23. The Rochester Knighthawks forward finished the night with five points (3+2) en route to 15 points in three games. After winning the Champion’s Cup, Powless now moves one step closer to a shot at another Championship. The Arrows take on the fourth-seeded Lakers, who defeated Kitchener-Waterloo in three games.

“It feels really good to move on,” said Powless. “I am really looking forward to the next series.”

After the Powless goal, the Arrows scored the next six to grab a 7-0 lead after the first period. He led the offense with two goals and one assist in the opening 20 minutes. He was joined by Vaughn Harris and Quinn Powless, who each collected three assists over that stretch. The Arrows got single goals from Seth Oakes, Kyle Isaacs, Rodd Squire, Randy Staats and Josh Johnson.

Warren Hill was stellar in goal, stopping all 13 shots he faced in the first, and went 1-for-1 in the second before giving way to Don Alton. St. Catharines also used both of its goalies with Eric Fannell getting the start before being replaced by Eric Penney in the second. Penney had a remarkable run in the second period, stopping 17 of the 18 shots he faced. The only goal he yielded was a power-play marker by Harris at 8:44 for an 8-0 Six Nations lead. Harris finished the game with a team-high six points (2+4).

Harris set up Six Nations’ next goal, hitting Brendan Bomberry with a pass 29 seconds into the third period. St. Catharines finally broke through at the 2:16 mark with a goal by Spencer Allen. A mere 40 seconds later, Adam Donner connected to get the Athletics to within 9-2. Harris ended the run with his second of the night, netting an unassisted goal at 5:48 for a 10-2 lead. After an Athletics’ goal, Staats finished off the series by scoring twice and assisting on Johnny Powless’ third of the night. Staats leads the Junior “A” Playoffs with 22 points on 10 goals and 12 assists.