Oct 13, 2023 | Winterhawks News | 941 views
Winterhawks Knock Off Champs
It's never too early to make a statement, and the Saugeen Shores Winterhawks did just that on Friday night at The Plex.
13 different players recorded at least a point in a total team effort as the Winterhawks took a 7-4 win over the defending champs, Tavistock Royals.
The game started off as a bit of a feeling out between the two clubs, but the floodgates opened midway through the opening frame.
The Winterhawks opened the scoring at 7:15 when Medric Mercier fed the puck to Matt Shields, who carried the puck through the neutral zone into the Tavistock end and found Andy Mitchell in the slot, who fired a shot into the top corner past Tavistock goalie Jensen van Boekel.
The Royals answered back on the power play just over two minutes later to even the score at 1-1.
Just 30 seconds later, Miles MacLean stripped a Tavistock defender of the puck as he attempted to carry the puck out of his own zone.
MacLean went the other way and snapped a low shot past van Boekel to restore the Winterhawks lead at 2-1.
Tavistock evened the score again at 13:56, and then went ahead on the power play at 15:09 to make it a 3-2 score for Tavistock.
The Winterhawks returned the volley at 16:46 when MacLean and Trent Hawke won a battle for the puck in the corner and then found James McHaig coming in off the point.
McHaig made no mistake, knotting the score at 3-3 after one period of play.
The Winterhawks came out quick in the second period, forcing a turnover in the Tavistock zone that lead to a goalmouth scramble and a 4-3 Winterhawks lead when Justin Marlowe banged the puck into the Royals net. Dan Zweep and Trevor Smith assisted on the go-ahead goal.
Once again, Tavistock picked up a power play right after the goal and made it count, knotting the score again at 4-4.
Resiliency might have been the theme of the night, as the Winterhawks again restored the lead, this time for good, when Lauchlin Elder stole the puck behind the Tavistock goal, and carried it out front, putting a between the legs shot past van Boekel to make it 5-4 Winterhawks at 6:25 of the second.
Mike Fiegehen put the insurance marker on the board in the third period when Curtis Johnston broke up a Tavistock clearing attempt and got it to Justin Donnelly, who fed Fiegehen.
He fired a wrist shot into the top corner to give the Winterhawks a 6-4 lead at 6:43 of the third.
Shields added an empty net goal to seal the 7-4 victory for the Winterhawks.
Jeff Flagler made 23 saves in the Winterhawks net for the win, while Shields was named The Wismer House Player of the Game with his two-point effort.
The win improves the Winterhawks to 2-0-0 on the young season, and they will be back home next Friday night, October 20th, when the Erin Outlaws make their first-ever trip to The Plex. Game time is 8:30 p.m.