Despite controlling the game for the majority of the night, the Saugeen Shores Winterhawks couldn't come up with a win in Shallow Lake on Friday night.
Crushers netminder Ryan Winter put on a show in the home net, thoroughly frustrating Winterhawks shooters all night long.
The Winterhawks picked up early chances, but were turned aside by Winter.
Eric Peicheff got the start in the Winterhawks net and was also solid early on, stopping a couple point blank chances for Shallow Lake.
An ex-teammate came back to haunt the Winterhawks, as Justin Marlowe got Shallow Lake on the board at 11:52 of the first period when he banged a centering feed past Peicheff.
Peicheff was whistled moments later for delay of game when his clearing attempt went over the low glass in the Shallow Lake arena.
Marlowe again put it to his old team, deflecting a point shot past Peicheff to make it 2-0 Shallow Lake.
More chances came, but the Winterhawks couldn't get anything past Winter.
The Winterhawks came out flying in the second period and dominated the early portion of the period, but Winter made several highlight reel saves to keep the visitors off the board.
A power play late in the second period was no better, as Winter stopped Trent Hawke on a breakaway, then made another unbelievable save on the rebound off the stick of Miles MacLean.
Shallow Lake picked up a double-minor power play immediately after the Winterhawks power play ended, and Peicheff came up big to keep his team within two as the second period came to an end.
The third period featured a fairly constant parade to the penalty box, which mostly favored the Winterhawks, but the power play couldn't find a way to beat Winter, who continued to make save-after-save.
The dam finally burst at 17:44 of the third when Andy Fracz fed the puck back to the point to Medric Mercier, who fired a quick shot through Winter, to record his first goal as a Winterhawk to cut the Shallow Lake lead to 2-1.
Peicheff was pulled for the extra attacker, but the Crushers ended up getting the empty netter to seal the 3-1 victory for Shallow Lake.
The Winterhawks need not wait long for revenge, as they'll host the Crushers back at The Plex this Tuesday night (November 29th) at 8:00 p.m.
Game Boxscore