Coates powers Pirates with hat trick effort

Picton coach Rick Van Vlack emphasizes a point during Picton’s 7-3 win over the visiting Panthers.

Story and photos by Jason Parks
When they signed him this summer, the Picton Pirates expected Joey Coates to break open some games in their favour.

The Belleville product piled up the points for the Espanola Paper Kings of the Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League last season, lighting the lamp 27 times while adding 46 helpers.

Picton’s Joey Coates had a hattrick in Thursday’s win over Port Hope.

In his return to the Provincial Junior Hockey League and the Tod Division, the overage pivot is already producing at a point-per-game clip and his hat trick for the Bucs on Thursday ensured Picton cruised through the third period of their game against visiting Port Hope with relative ease.

By virtue of their 7-3 win over the Panthers, Picton moved back to .500 for the first time since opening weekend at 2-2-2. The Pirates were in Lakefield last night for a four point game against the Chiefs.

Up and Down the lineup
Picton took a 2-0 lead to the dressing room thanks to contributions from both rookies and vets in the opening stanza. And that same balanced attack manifested itself in periods two and three as well.

County Kings product Jaxson Payne bagged his third of the season in the high slot, tipping a Caleb Doyle volley past Port Hope starter Jaxson McQuade at 16:11. The Pirates doubled up on the Cats later in the first thanks to overager Keenan Wiles. The Carrying Place product converted a feed from Consecon’s Ben Smith at 5:20. The north County connection looked smart on an errant Port Hope pass as Smith dug out the puck from behind the Panthers goal line and found a wide open Wiles in the slot.

The Panthers battled back with a pair off the sticks of Liam Hackett and Carson Perry to draw the game back to square at 2-2. But just eight seconds after Port Hope tied the game, it was the North County Connection pushing Picton back into the lead to stay.

Wiles capped off a scoring rush up the ice thanks to help from Smith and Ameliasburgh native Gerrit Kempers at 6:07.

Rookie scorer Payne doubled down when he once tipped a Blake Brown blueline pass past McQuade at 2:15 for the eventual game winner.

From there, it was the Coates show. Ty Mulder hit the sniper with a cross ice feed on Picton power play with 1:15 left in the second.

Port Hope managed a goal at the end of the second to get within shouting distance but it was Coates who coated the Cats with a couple in the third.

At the 5:47 mark, Kempers slipped a nice one time feed to Coates at the face off dot and the forward went on hat trick watch.

Then, with time winding down, Isiah More intercepted a clearing attempt with eight seconds left and set up Coates for his third one time tally of the game with eight ticks left on the clock.

Nick Parado made 20 stops for his first win of the season.

On Thursday, Picton returns to home port to welcome County native Riley Grimmon and the Frankford Huskies.