Lucas Demiglio scored a power-play goal with 49 seconds remaining in regulation to give the Spirit a 4-3 win in the final game of the series in Toronto Sunday
Next!
The Stouffville Spirit will have home-ice advantage for the second round of the 2026 Ontario Junior Hockey League playoffs.
The Spirit, who finished second in the East Conference, will face the third-place Pickering Panthers in one semifinal. The best-of-seven will begin Saturday night at the Stouffville Arena.
Here’s the series schedule:
The Trenton Golden Hawks and Newmarket Hurricanes are meeting in the other East semi.
The Spirit eliminated the pesky St. Michael’s Buzzers four games to two in their opening-round series. Spirit rookie Lucas Demiglio scored a power-play goal with 49 seconds remaining in regulation to give the Spirit a 4-3 win in the final game of the series at St. Michael’s College School Arena in Toronto Sunday night.
Demiglio, who has played in seven games this season with Brampton of the Ontario Hockey League, had four goals during the opening round.
The Buzzers led 2-0 midway through the game, but Hudson Armstrong and Evan Breckles scored to tie things up before the end of the second period.
Another comeback would be required after the Buzzers took the lead at the 7:21 mark.
Enter Elijah Chavez, another rookie with OHL experience this season – three games with the Peterborough Petes – who tied the game at 3-3 with 7:55 to go in regulation.
Save for the Spirit’s 5-0 win in Game 1, all games in the series were one-goal affairs late in the going.
NOTES:
Stouffville Mayor Iain Lovatt has challenged Pickering Mayor Kevin Ashe to a friendly wager ahead of the series. The towns share an eastern border on the southeast corner of Stouffville. Lovatt attended Game 5 in Stouffville.
With the Little Native Hockey League tournament taking over arenas across Stouffville from March 16 to 18, Spirit practices have been moved to Newmarket this week. More than 270 teams are expected to compete in the LNH event this year, including 59 girls’ teams, bringing thousands of players, families and supporters from First Nations communities across Ontario to York Region.
Armstrong, another member of the solid Spirit rookie class, had 11 points (five goals/six assist) during the series – second hightest across the OJHL playoffs.
Breckles and Demiglio were next with eight apiece. Logan Sitlani has six points to lead all defencemen.
Hayden Sabourin went 4-2 with a 0.907 save percentage and 2.51 GAA in the series
Tayjon Street had two assists Sunday.
St. Michael’s captain Daniel Yorke was assessed a match penalty for ‘attempt to injure’ after Sunday’s game for taking down an Ontario Hockey Association linesperson and Spirit forward Evan Breckles with a two-handed slash just after the final buzzer. It was the 6-foot-4 defenceman’s last game at the Jr. A level.
HISTORY LESSON
The last time the Spirit and Buzzers met in the playoffs it was the Ontario Provincial Jr. A championship series in 2006, won in six games by the Buzzers.
The Spirit and Pickering were scheduled to face off in the second round of the OJHL playoffs in 2020, but the series and the season were cancelled by the COVID-19 pandemic. The Spirit eliminated Collingwood (then called the Colts) in the first round.
Julian Demiglio, Lucas’ older brother, plays full-time for Brampton this season. The two-year Spirit forward is committed to NCAA Division I RIT in Rochester, NY.
