Sean Allen
BRANT NEWS

With first place on the line on Saturday night, the Brantford Golden Eagles proved they are deserving of the best overall record in the 26-team Greater Ontario Junior Hockey League.

Battling the Stratford Cullitons on home ice, the Eagles erased a 1-0 deficit in the second period, exploding for five goals in 14 minutes and claiming a 5-1 win.

“We came out a little flat in the first period,” captain Tanner Rutland said. “During the first 10 minutes, they were all over us and hitting us. But we said between periods we needed to come out and play our game.”

A loss for the Eagles would have meant slipping into second place in the Midwestern Conference standings after the Cullitons picked up a win on Sunday.

“We had this one marked in our calendars for a while,” Rutland said. “We knew it was a huge four-point game.”

The Eagles have a 37-6-3 record, good for 77 points, three more than the Cullitons and four more than the Golden Horseshoe Conference leading St. Catharines Falcons.

The Golden Eagles were down 1-0 after one period, after the Cullitons’ Brad McClure picked up a loose puck and scored on a breakaway.

“I told them between periods that they were not playing bad,” coach Mike Bullard said. “We made one mistake and were down, but I told them we needed to be hungrier. We came out with a higher tempo, started hitting everything that moved and then Mike Rebry scored that shorthanded goal that gave us a huge lift. Things snowballed from there.”

After Rebry broke out on a shorthanded breakaway and deked out Cullitons goaltender Jesse Raymond at 2:34 of the second period, the Golden Eagles turned on the jets.

Mike Riley scored on another breakaway less than two minutes later.

At 12:47 in the second period, a Trent Hawke goal was called back after Matt Quilty was called for goaltender interference. After the Golden Eagles fended off the two-minute minor, they scored three times in less than a minute.

Dillan Walker scored on a slapshot from the boards, Mike Rebry was credited with another goal that trickled in off a deflection and Brett Appio picked the top corner on a two-on-one break.

With only five games remaining in the season, Bullard hopes to continue running the team as a cohesive unit.

“Anyone who says they predicted we would be first at this point is lying,” he said. “We don’t have any superstars. We have a team where any given night anybody can step up.”

Bullard said he would like to finish first and gain home ice advantage through the postseason, but the No. 1 goal is to keep playing as a team.

The Golden Eagles are back in action on Saturday night at the Wayne Gretzky Sports Centre at 7:30 p.m. against the Guelph Hurricanes.