The Saugeen Shores Winterhawks made the most of their home away from home, taking a 7-0 win over the Shelburne Muskies on Sunday evening in Owen Sound.
The Winterhawks came out flying and dominated the opening period, with only the outstanding play of Shelburne netminder Malcolm Young keeping it scoreless early on.
The Winterhawks broke through at 13:08, when Medric Mercier hammered a one-timer from the point past Young, with assists to Mike Fiegehen and Justin Donnelly.
Matt Shields expanded the lead to 2-0 just over two minutes later, with assists to Andy Mitchell and Logan Freiburger.
That score held through the end of the first period, with the Winterhawks outshooting Shelburne 24-5 in the opening frame.
The Winterhawks made it 3-0 to open the second period, with Mercier putting a beautiful pass to the side of the net for Lauchlin Elder, and the Owen Sound native made no mistake with the open net. Miles MacLean also assisted on the goal at 0:49.
The ice tilted in Shelburne's favour for a bulk of the second period, but a suddenly-busy Eric Peicheff was outstanding in the Winterhawks net, making several point-blank saves to keep the Muskies off the board.
A penalty kill bore fruit for the Winterhawks when Young came well out of his net to play the puck as it was cleared into the Shelburne zone, but promptly turned it over to Mitchell, who had an empty net to deposit the puck.
Mitchell's shorthanded marker at 19:22 made it 4-0 Winterhawks after two periods.
Fiegehen, Mitchell and Donnelly scored in the third period to make it a 7-0 final, while Peicheff made several big saves late to record his 3rd shutout of the season, making 31 saves for the win to take Wismer House Player of the Game honours.
All told, the Winterhawks outshot Shelburne 49-31 to wrap up the regular season.
The Winterhawks finished the regular season with a 14-5-1 record, securing the 3rd seed in the Sr. "AA" playoffs and will face the 6th-seed Creemore Coyotes in the opening round of the playoffs, which will begin next weekend when the Winterhawks return home to The Plex.
A series schedule will be confirmed early in the week. Playoff ticket prices will be $12 at the door, season ticket passes include playoff admission and game passes are valid for admission to playoff games.
Full Boxscore
Lakeshore Winterhawks Jersey Auction: The final 13 jerseys worn on Lakeshore Winterhawks Night are available for auction. Bidding closes on Tuesday evening, January 31st, at 11:00 p.m.
Please click here to visit the auction site